


Becoming Iron

by TheDumbestAvenger



Series: Born of Iron [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: (again), Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, F/M, Family Feels, Father-Son Relationship, Kalen gets in so much trouble and Tony loses his mind, Minor Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Parent Tony Stark, Protective Natasha Romanov, Protective Tony Stark, The Avengers (2012) - Freeform, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, wormholes play a big part later on
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:33:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 19,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24736972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDumbestAvenger/pseuds/TheDumbestAvenger
Summary: In the two years since Vanko attacked the Stark Expo, Kalen and Tony managed to live a normal life. Well, just about as normal as you can manage when you're a billionaire superhero. The pair are just about finishing up their work on the new Stark Tower in New York when they get an unexpected visitor in the form of SHIELD Agent Phil Coulson. Needless to say, the rest will go down in the history books.Or a retelling of Avengers Assemble if Tony were raising a kid who just wants to be a hero like his dad
Relationships: Tony Stark & Avengers Team, Tony Stark & Original Character(s)
Series: Born of Iron [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1742518
Kudos: 6





	1. In the Eye of a Hurricane

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, the first part of Avengers Assemble!  
> Hope you enjoy!

** May 2012 - Two Years After the Stark Expo **

They call it the calm after the storm, the recovery after a stressful or chaotic time. The Starks had survived palladium, survived Vanko. Survived the storm. Tony dialled down on Iron Man, sure he helped Rhodey on the occasional mission against the Ten Rings, but only when he was needed. Instead, he focused on Kalen, trying to give his son a life as regular as any Stark could manage. To give him time to be a kid, not the one who ran towards danger, but the one who stuffed cake into his mouth faster than he could chew and jumped on the sofa when he thought Tony wasn’t watching.

They call it the calm after the storm, but when you can’t see the storm coming, how do you tell it apart from the eye.

Tony shot out of the Hudson, weaving through Manhattan. “Good to go on this end. The rest is up to you, Captain.”

“You’ve disconnected the transmission lines? Are we off the grid?” Kalen asked.

“Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy.” Tony turned up Park Avenue. “Okay, light her up.”

“You got it.” Kalen tapped the hologram over his desk, switching power over to the arc reactor. He grinned as the lights flicked on around him. “How’s it look from out there?”

“Like Christmas. But with more… us.”

“You have to take me out with you to see it. It’s not fair that you can just fly around to get the best view.”

“Have to, huh? I thought it was the Terrible Twos, not the Pushy Elevens.”

“Daaad,” Kalen moaned, rolling his eyes. “Uncle Rhodey would take me if he wasn’t fighting the Ten Rings. Plus that wasn’t even alliterative,” he muttered the last part, not intending for Tony to hear. 

“Someone’s been paying attention in English class. I thought it was too boring.”

Kalen bit back a reply, knowing he and Tony could quip each other into next week. "If only Auntie Pepper’s meetings hadn’t been moved up-"

“Kay, you’re killing me here. Just enjoy the moment.” Tony landed on the platform that jutted out from the tower. Kalen watched in awe as the bots disassembled the suit around Tony. It was the thousandth time he'd seen it, but it was still just as impressive as the first. 

_ “Sir, Agent Coulson of SHIELD is on the line.” _

“I’m not in,” Tony replied. “I’m actually out.”

_ “I’m afraid he’s insisting.” _

“Grow a spine, Jarvis. I have a celebratory cake to eat.” He walked inside, looking to Kalen. “We do have cake, right?”

“Yeah, it’s in the kitchen. Happy dropped it off before he left yesterday. I can’t believe he’s actually taking a holiday. Like an actual, real holiday.” Kalen read through the data collected from the arc reactor. “Power levels are holding steady.”

“Of course they are, we were directly involved. Which brings me to my next question, how can I eat cake if it’s in the kitchen.”

“You walk over there and get a piece.” 

“Walk? That’s so two thousand and eight. I can fly now, you know. I feel like that’s often overlooked.”

“Dad, Iron Man is  _ absolutely  _ not overlooked.”

“Iron Man may not be, but what about Tony Stark?”

“I thought you were Iron Man. Or did that conference not go how I remember it?”

“Touche.” Tony clicked his tongue. “I was just about to give you half of the credit for all this. But that comment dropped you to twelve percent.”

“Twelve? That’s so low!”

“An argument can be made for fifteen. I mean, you did help figure out the new element, but I did all the heavy lifting. Literally, I lifted the heavy things, those letters outside were not easy.”

“And you only remind me every day. Aren’t you glad I made you turn it on tonight, rather than wait until morning? The lights look so much better.”

Tony gave Kalen a mock salute. “Oh, of course, Captain. Once again, you were right and I was wrong.”

Kalen rolled his eyes at Tony’s dramatics. “I’m just gonna get the cake now.” He skipped off to the kitchen, returning with the cake and two plates. Tony cut them both slices and they tucked in.

“What if Agent Coulson wanted to talk to you about the Avengers Initiative? Maybe you should go down and see if he’s still around.”

“I told you, they scrapped that. And I didn’t even qualify for it anyway.” Tony didn’t admit to Kalen that he was slightly relieved when Natasha had recommended him only for a consultant position. He’d asked her about it after, she’d confirmed his suspicions.  _ I did it to save Kal from watching you fight, from losing you. _ Tony owed her a debt he couldn’t repay, she’d given him two years of peace with his son.

_ “Sir, the telephone. I’m afraid my protocols are being overridden,” _ Jarvis reported. Tony’s phone started ringing a second later.

Tony picked it up, rolling his eyes at the caller ID. “Here,” he handed it to Kalen, “Unwanted Caller Protocol, go.” Kalen giggled, taking the phone and holding it up to Tony, giving him a nod. Tony kept his face emotionless as he spoke, “You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark. Please leave a message.” Kalen fought against laughing.

“This is urgent,” Coulson replied.

“Then leave it urgently.” As if on cue, the lift doors slid open to reveal Coulson inside, phone in one hand and SHIELD issue laptop in the other. “Security breach! Kay, I’m blaming you.”

“Shut up,” Kalen laughed, pushing away Tony’s arm as he got to his feet. “Hi Agent C!” He chimed, hopping over the sofa.

“Uh, who’s Agent C? His name is Coulson.” He followed Kalen, greeting Coulson with a nod. “Come in, I guess.”

“I can’t stay,” Coulson replied as he stepped out of the lift. “We need you to come in, it can’t wait. Everything you need to know is on here.” He offered Tony the laptop.

Tony held up his hands, “I don’t like being handed things.”

Kalen reached up and took the laptop, “I love being handed things.” He turned to skip across the room, but Tony stopped him with a hand on his shoulder and looked to Coulson.

“Is there anything an eleven-year-old shouldn’t see on that?” There was a dangerous edge to his voice at the sinking realisation that he was being thrust back somewhere he didn’t want to go.

“Apart from classified SHIELD files, no. Though I expect Kal will learn everything in them anyhow.”

“Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday.”

“This isn’t a consultation.”

Tony removed his hand from Kalen’s shoulder and followed him over to the desk. Kalen set down the laptop and opened it up, Jarvis projected the files on the holoprojector. The faces of the other candidates for the Avengers Initiative looking down at them. Kalen pointed at the one on the right, “I told you Thor was real.”

“Yeah, and I told you Banner was the Hulk so we’re even.” He called over to Coulson across the room, “So it wasn’t scrapped then. Just another lie?”

“Not a lie. It was scrapped, it is scrapped. But we’re ignoring that order.”

Tony sighed, wrapping an arm around Kalen. “You really need me?”

“I’m afraid so, Mr Stark.”

Tony pinched the bridge of his nose. “I can’t, okay. I’ve got no one to look after Kay and I- I’m not exactly  _ Iron Man-ing  _ right now.”

“Then I suggest now is the time to change that.” Coulson dropped his head, almost looking guilty as he fished something from his pocket. “Fury had this made up, just in case.”

Tony strode across the room, leaving Kalen alone with the laptop. He snatched the thing from Coulson, “Jesus,” he spat, “Do you guys have no boundaries?” He looked at the SHIELD ID badge in his hand, Kalen’s face beamed up at him. “He’s a kid,  _ my  _ kid. You can’t pull this shit without talking to me.”

“When it comes to saving lives, no, we don’t have boundaries,” Coulson snapped. “We made that for worst-case scenarios, and this is one of them.” 

The more Kalen looked through the files, the worried he grew. Watching the Avengers candidates fighting bad guys was one thing, but seeing grainy footage of a man in a long, green robe appear from basically nowhere and attack SHIELD agents was another. “Dad?”

Tony ran over swiping away the footage and serving Coulson with an ugly look. “Wait,” he said, his brow furrowing. “Look at this.” He picked out a glowing blue, cuboid object, holding the hologram so Kalen could see.

“Space magic,” Kalen whispered. He looked over at Coulson, “SHIELD had this the whole time?”

Coulson nodded, “Doctor Selvig was researching the tesseract for us before… well, before Loki go to him.”

Tony closed his eyes, the fact that he was needed at all was worrying. The fact he was needed  _ now _ , terrifying. He imagined the life Kalen could have lived had it not been for Iron Man, without the fear, without the pain. Without the potentially world-ending events that this Loki guy and the tesseract could bring. The choice between one person’s happiness and the world’s safety shouldn’t even be a question. Things change when that person is the same one you love more than anything. 

SHIELD thought they were doing the right thing, but no one had the full picture. Only Loki knew what his plans with the tesseract were, so how could SHIELD be sure this plan was the best one. They think they’re right, but they could be wrong. That makes them dangerous. But if the world was truly at stake…

“Okay,” Tony whispered, hating that he was about to agree to this. “But Kay stays by my side the entire time. Give us fifteen minutes to pack a bag. Make yourself at home.” He grabbed Kalen’s hand, partly to stop his own from shaking, and led him to his room.

Tony opened Kalen’s wardrobe and began picking out his favourite clothes and quickly folding them into the travel bag under his bag. Over the last few weekends, they’d been flying out to Stark Tower to complete work on the arc reactor, so his their bags were already half packed. “Can you grab your toothbrush for me, buddy?”

Kalen nodded and scampered to the bathroom as fear gnawed away at him, Tony only called him ‘buddy’ when he was trying to calm him down. Or calm himself down. Kalen grabbed his toothbrush and hurried back. Tony was watching the door, waiting for his return.

“If you don’t want to go, we don’t have to. Just say the word, I’ll deal with Coulson.”

Kalen was quiet for a moment, Tony watched him with bated breath. “We have to go. People are in trouble and you have to help them.”

Tony moved forward, pulling Kalen’s hands into his. “I’m serious. It’s okay to be scared sometimes, and it’s okay to say no.”

Kalen squeezed Tony’s hands. “I’m okay. It’s scary, but if I had a suit like you, I’d do everything I can to stop Loki.” Every word he said was the truth, more than Tony could’ve known.

“You are the most grown-up kid in the world, you know that?” 

Kalen nodded and laughed as Tony pulled him into a quick embrace, pressing a kiss to his messy hair. 

“Okay, let’s go get my bag packed.” He hung Kalen’s bag over his shoulder, looking down at his son. He’d been through so much since Tony revealed himself as Iron Man. In the last two years, he’d battled against nightmares and anxiety attacks reliving it. Still, eventually, he’d started to come out of his shell. Tony was afraid going with Coulson would push him right back. But looking down at the determination in Kalen’s eyes, he knew this was the right choice.

Kalen slipped his hand into Tony’s as they headed back down. “Maybe it will be cool, it was kinda fun at Agent C’s facility in New York.”

“Only you could think a week of best rest is fun.”

Kalen playfully pushed Tony’s arm, “Hey!”

“It’s true! Best rest is one of the most boring things going.”

“But I got to call Jason every day,” Kalen said with a sad smile.

“You still miss him, huh?”

Kalen nodded. “I wish his dad hadn’t had to move again.”

Tony let out a deep sigh as he guided Kalen and Coulson into the lift. “Sometimes things don’t work out the way you wished they would.”

They call it the calm after the storm, but the winds had barely begun to blow.


	2. I Promise That I'll Make You Proud

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a tad late but still on time ish  
> Hope you enjoy!

_"We have to make a stop on the way."_ That's what Coulson said as they took their seats on the Quinjet. He neglected to mention that stop was to pick up Steve Rogers. _Captain America._ Kalen had lost his mind when the midday news showed pictures of the 'Captain America Lookalike' seen wandering around Times Square back in October. Most people put it down to some sort of genetic fluke, _how could Captain America be alive today when he died nearly seventy years ago?_ But Kalen saw Nick Fury in the background of a photo, and he knew this was the real deal.

When Coulson returned to the jet with Steve in tow, Kalen just stared, his jaw practically scraping the floor. Of course, he knew Steve was one of the Avengers candidates, but he'd never imagined meeting the man. 

Steve shared a greeting with Tony before turning to Kalen, offering him a polite, if not mildly confused, smile. Kalen's mouth moved wordlessly as he stared up at Steve in wonder.

Just as the silence stretched to an uncomfortable length, Tony spoke up for his son. "And this is Kalen. As you can see, he's very calm under pressure and isn't fazed by anything."

"Dad!" Kalen hissed, pulling his gaze from Steve. "That's not cool."

Tony waved a hand at Kalen. "Nothing about what you just did was cool."

Kalen hung his head, screwing up his face in a way that made his nose crinkle to an adorable extent. "I know."

"It's nice to meet you, kid," Steve said, forcing back the urge to laugh.

"Th-Thank you." Kalen stammered. Tony couldn't hold back, he broke out into waves of warm laughter. Kalen immediately what he'd said, his eyes growing wide. "No! I didn't mean to say that. I was trying to say it's nice to meet you, too, but-"

Tony clapped a hand on Kalen's shoulder, even Coulson couldn't keep a smile from his face. "I'd cut before you make it worse. Come on, sit." He guided Kalen, whose face was now bright red, onto one of the benches running along the edge of the Quinjet. Steve sat across from them, Coulson took up behind a computer mounted in the wall, and the pilots took them up into the air.

It wasn't long before Kalen recovered, and he had a growing list of questions impatiently waiting to be asked. He tried to hold back, to not freak Steve out any more than their incredibly awkward introduction had already, but the words just fell out of his mouth. And once they started, he couldn't seem to stop them. Besides, when was an opportunity like this going to come again.

"Was Red Skull as scary in real life as in the comics?" It was his tenth, maybe twentieth question.

“Oh yeah, he was so scary.” Steve, seemingly unfazed by the interrogation, leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “His face was hideous to look at, all red and boney. He didn’t even have a nose.”

“Ewww! Like Voldemort?” Kalen laughed.

Steve creased his eyebrows together, “I don’t- Who’s Voldemort.”

Tony sucked in a breath. “Bad move, Rogers."

Kalen gasped so loud you'd think someone had dropped the biggest insult of their lives. "You’ve never read Harry Potter? You must be like, the only person on the planet who hasn’t!” He narrowed his eyes. "Have you even seen the films?"

Steve chuckled and dropped his head to his chest. “I’ll start a list of things to catch up on."

“You can borrow my books!”

“Woah, you sure about that? They’re your most prized possessions,” Tony asked.

“Yeah, dad. That’s Captain America, he can look after a book.” Kalen spoke with such seriousness that Steve couldn’t help but chuckle again. “Hey, um, Mister Rogers-Captain-Sir,” he stumbled over his words, still awestruck. Tony pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head from second-hand embarrassment.

“Steve’s fine.”

“Okay, Mister Steve. What was Auntie Peggy like back then?”

It was Steve's turn to be left wide-eyed and speechless. "You know Peggy?" He asked eventually

“Yeah, she used to babysit before she moved to Washington.”

A bittersweet smile crossed Steve’s face and he stared somewhere above Kalen's head. “Well, she was the toughest person I knew, and incredibly loyal, too. She could’ve taken on Red Skull by herself had she been given a chance to get close enough.”

Kalen nodded in agreement, “Yeah, she’s totally badass!” Steve cast him a disapproving look at his choice of language. Kalen dropped his head and muttered, “Sorry.”

“Where’d you learn that kind of language from, Kay?”

“Pretty sure it was you,” Kalen grinned.

Tony pressed a hand over his chest, pretending to be offended. “I would never!”

“Yeah, I think you were talking about Dum-E at the time. Something about how good his coffee is.”

“Now that doesn’t sound right at all. You must be mistaken.”

Kalen hummed, pretending to think. “Nope! Definitely not.”

One of the pilots spoke from the cockpit, “We’re about forty minutes out from home base, sir.”

Coulson nodded and got to his feet, walking across to them and steading himself on an overhead handhold. Steve pointed to the tablet in his lap which he'd been reading between questions. “So this Doctor Banner was trying to replicate the serum used on me?”

“A lot of people were,” Coulson replied. “You were the world’s first superhero. Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine’s original formula.”

“Didn’t really go his way, did it.”

“Being a superhero is pretty cool, though,” Kalen added.

Tony folded his arms, giving Steve a meaningful look. “Not always as good as you would think, is it, Rogers?”

Steve shrugged, “I don’t know, fighting against injustice is-” He cut himself off as Tony glared at him, quickly correcting himself. “Is… really dangerous, and risky.”

Tony rolled his eyes, _how was scaring Kalen going to make this situation any better._

Coulson cut through the awkwardness, “When Banner’s not that thing, though, guys like Stephen Hawking.” Steve looked up at Coulson blankly. “He’s like... a smart person.”

“Like Grandpa Howard!” Kalen chimed, knowing Steve would follow.

Steve nodded his understanding. “‘Grandpa Howard’, that’s strange to hear. I didn’t even know you had a kid until an hour ago.”

“No one does.” Tony turned to Coulson, “Speaking of, what’s the deal wherever we’re going? Does everyone know, or?”

Coulson shook his head, “No one knows, but no doubt they’ll figure it out. These are our most trusted agents, though, they won’t let slip.”

Tony gave him a terse nod. Introducing the public to Kalen was another thing he’d never gotten around to. At first, he hadn’t wanted to thrust Kalen into something overwhelmingly new when his life was just returning to normal. Then it changed into selfishness, they both liked their lives the way they were and didn’t want to mess that up, no matter how inevitable it was.

“Mister Steve, did you really do all of that singing and dancing?”

Steve hung his head, “Unfortunately, yes. Over two hundred times.”

“Woah! That’s so cool! Like being in Newsies or something.”

“Really?”

“No,” Tony cut in, “He’s been trying for two months to convince me to buy tickets for Newsies. It’s a musical.” He added quickly.

“I’ll wash the dishes every day for a whole month.”

“We have a dishwasher.”

“I’ll… teach Dum-E how to make coffee without oil in.”

Tony hummed. “If you can do that, I’ll buy you all the tickets you want.

While they were talking, Coulson drew Steve to the far end of the Quinjet, filling him on details he would need to know. Tony pulled the SHIELD laptop from his bag and set it on his lap, Kalen scooched over so he could see the screen too as he read handfuls of research notes on the tesseract.

“I don’t get it,” Kalen said as they moved on to papers detailing something called extraction theory.

“Thermonuclear astrophysics isn’t exactly my area, but I think I can help you out.” Tony returned to the beginning and read through it with Kalen, offering extra explanations and answering questions as he went.

They’d just made it to the end of the papers when the pilot informed them she was lining up for the final approach. Kalen leaned forward in his seat to sneak a glance out of the cockpit, amazed to see nothing but the sea, sky, and a colossal aircraft carrier looming against the early morning sun. Even Tony seemed taken aback by the scale of SHIELD’s resources.

Coulson was standing before they’d touched down, ready to open the door and address the agents outside. “Stow the Captain’s gear and take the other bags to rooms 126 and 127.”

“Yes, sir,” They chorused back.

Kalen jumped to his feet but Tony caught his shoulder, holding him back from running outside, and waited for Steve to leave. He knelt on one knee, looking Kalen straight in the eye. “I don’t know exactly what’s going on here, I’m not sure anyone does actually, but that means you stay by my side, alright?” Kalen nodded. “Happy’s getting back to the tower as soon as he can and when he gets there, I’m sending you home.”

“But dad-”

“Sorry, Captain. I make the rules this time.”

Kalen opened his mouth to protest further when he heard a familiar voice from outside. His face lit up as he scampered down the ramp. “Nat!” He beamed, barrelling into her arms with a mumbled ‘hey’.

She giggled and ruffled his hair, “Hey to you, too. Who let you get so big, huh?”

Steve watched, his head tilted to the side, “You two know each other?”

“No,” Natasha replied with a smirk. “He just greets everyone like this.” She shared a look with Tony over Kalen’s shoulder, both happy for Kalen to be reunited again. “Stark.”

“Romanoff.”

Natasha turned to Coulson, one arm still holding Kalen, “You’re needed on the bridge, they’re starting the face trace.”

“See you there,” Coulson nodded before departing.

Tony joined Kalen’s other side as Natasha led them across the deck. “There was quite the buzz around here when they found you in the ice. I thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?”

“Trading cards?” Steve asked.

“They’re vintage, he’s very proud.”

Kalen watched the flurry of movement around him. The deck was packed full of people, yet everyone seemed to be in the midst of something important, making the one person who wasn’t stand out like a sore thumb. “Woah...” Kalen breathed, “Is that Doctor Banner?” He pointed ahead of them towards a skittish looking man in a brown suit.

“Sure is,” Natasha grinned. “Go ahead.”

Kalen ran forward and called out Doctor Banner’s name, which only caused him more alarm. He rushed towards him, as if to hug him as well, but stopped just in time and held out a hand for him to shake instead. “You’re the-”

“Yeah,” Doctor Banner dropped his head. “Yeah, I’m the Hulk-”

“The scientist who helped save my dad’s life! I wanted to study your research on antielectron collisions in science class, but Miss Chen said it was a little advanced. She’s the person who gave me a copy of your book!” 

A smile spread across the doctor’s face. He stammered a few half words before settling on a sentence, “You seem a little young to be reading my book.”

“Oh, I get that a lot, not just about your book. Other things too. Like when I ask for higher-level work in maths class. Actually pretty much every time I meet someone they tell me that, but I just love learning things. Me and my best friend Jason, you’re like his favourite scientist, by the way, both try to-” He trailed off as he noticed Doctor Banner looking over his head, then at him, then back again as he pieced it together. Kalen looked back to see the others catching up to him.

“Let me guess,” Tony said, resting a hand on Kalen’s shoulder, “He already told you?”

“No, actually. He just-”

“Rambled at such a godforsaken speed it’s near impossible to understand?”

Doctor Banner rubbed the back of his head, “Yeah, actually.”

“Sorry,” Kalen mumbled with a sheepish smile.

“It’s alright, Kay,” Tony squeezed his shoulder, “Just take a breath and try again.”

Kalen did precisely that. “Hi, I’m Kalen, you can call Kal.”

Doctor Banner smiled kindly, “Nice to meet you, Kal. I’m Bruce.”

Kalen pointed over his shoulder, “This is Agent Romanoff, Captain Rogers, and… um.”

“Dad, but you call me Tony.”

“I’ve met Natasha already.” Bruce stepped forward and shook both Tony and Steve’s hands. “They told me you’d be coming.”

“Word is you can find the cube,” Steve said.

Bruce nodded quickly before looking around, “Is, uh, is that the only word on me?”

“The only word I care about.”

Bruce’s shoulders loosened at Steve’s friendly expression. Natasha strode forward, “Gentlemen, you might want to step inside in a minute. It’s going to get a little hard to breathe.”

A metallic rumbling sound shook the deck beneath their feet, the crew began running to secure jets and boxes down before running inside. Steve and Bruce walked towards the edge of the deck. “Is this a submarine?” Steve asked.

“They want me in a submerged, pressurised, metal container?”

Kalen rushed ahead, peering over the edge where the sea below churned, seeming to fall into some kind of pit. As he watched, a giant metal turbine slowly appeared in the centre, sending a fine spray of water over Kalen. “It’s not a submarine,” he breathed. The Helicarrier began to rise, the sound of water pouring of almost deafening as wind whipped at Kalen’s hair and jacket. 

“Oh no,” Bruce shook his head, “This is much worse.”

Kalen nudged Tony, helpless to hold back a laugh. “This must be Director Fury’s idea, it’s very _dramatic_.” 

Tony snorted, looping his arm over Kalen’s shoulders as Natasha led them inside and through a series of corridors.

Kalen gasped when they emerged onto the bridge. The first thing to catch his eye was the massive window looking out over the sea as they rose higher still. Agent’s bustled about on a lower level, some carrying clipboards and talking into to comms, while others sat behind desks. Kalen wished he could get a better look at their screens.

“All engines operating. SHIELD Emergency Protocol 193.6 in effect.” Called out one of the agents, she turned to Fury who stood surrounded by screens. “We’re at level, sir.”

“Good,” Fury replied. “Let’s vanish.”

“Engage retro-reflection panels.” 

“You can make this whole thing invisible with retro-reflection panels?” Kalen exclaimed, earning a few strange looks from the closest agents. Fury turned to face him.

“Good to see you again, Kalen. I’m sorry we had to bring you into this.”

“No, this is so cool,” Kalen grinned as he looked around the bridge.

“You have got to stop calling everything cool. It’ll lose all value.” Tony said.

Fury turned to address Bruce and Steve, who were standing around a meeting table. “Gentlemen.” He walked towards Bruce, “Doctor, thank you for coming.”

“Thanks for asking nicely. So, how long am I staying?”

“Once we get our hands on the tesseract, you’re in the wind.”

“Where are you with that?”

Fury nodded to Coulson as he entered the room. “We’re sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cell phones, laptops. If it’s connected to a satellite, it’s eyes and ears for us.”

Natasha crouched by a computer as Coulson spoke. Kalen peered around her at the screen, it showed two faces, one he recognised as Doctor Selvig from the files, the other he didn’t know, but that's who Natasha's gaze lingered on. She caught Kalen looking and moved to block his view, turning to Coulson. “It’s still not going to find them in time.”

“You should narrow the field,” Kalen suggested, drawing all of their eyes to him. He dropped his head, “Sorry.”

“No, you're right.” Bruce said, “How many spectrometers do you have access to?”

“How many are there?” Fury asked, crossing his arms.

“Call every lab you know. Tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I’ll rough out a tracking algorithm, basic cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?” Bruce chuckled and nodded towards Kalen, “And can I take him with me?”

“Agent Romanoff, could you show the gentlemen to their laboratory, please?”

“You boys are gonna love it. We’ve got all the toys.”

The lab wasn’t unlike the one at Stark Tower, though the equipment didn’t have the same Stark upgrades as their own. This one also had a much more clinical feel, less inviting than the familiarity of home.

They barely had time to acquaint themselves with the space before Natasha came barrelling back. She grabbed hold of the door frame with one hand, “Tony, we need you.” Despite running all the way from the bridge, she wasn’t out of breath in the slightest. We found Loki.” 

“What, already?” Tony turned to Kalen and pulled him into a hug. “Looks like I’ve got to go, buddy. I’ll come straight back here when we’re done, okay?” He pressed a kiss to Kalen’s forehead before straightening up. “Bruce, you don’t mind keeping this one entertained?”

“No, not at all. You go,” Bruce smiled.

Tony pointed to Kalen, “Be good for Bruce. Try not to ramble your head off.”

Kalen smiled, “Only if you promise to kick Loki’s ass!”

“I had no idea I was raising such a potty mouth.” Tony sang as he followed Natasha from the lab.

As soon as he’d left, Kalen’s smiled fell away. He stared at the door with wide, worry-stricken eyes hoping that somehow this was all a big mistake. That Tony would come running back and sweep him into his arms and, _somehow_ , everything would be okay.

Kalen yelped as a hand touched on his shoulder, pulling him back into reality. Bruce jumped back, “Sorry! I-”

“No! I was daydreaming, I’m fine,” Kalen said quickly.

Bruce looked him over, sceptical that he was indeed _fine_. He’d known him for less than an hour, but this kid had already gotten under his skin, and he wanted to help him. He decided talking was Kalen’s biggest distraction. “What’s your story? How did you get so much knowledge in that young brain of yours?”

“My dad,” Kalen shrugged. “He’s really smart.”

“My mum’s an artist, but my skill ends at stick figures.”

Kalen bowed his head. “Dad never got along well with Grandpa Howard, and I _never_ want that to happen between us. He was my hero long before he was Iron Man. I guess I just want to make him proud, to be clever like him, be a hero like him. And I really do love learning things, so it works out well.” He’d never said this aloud, but doing so only solidified the feeling.

Bruce was silent for a moment before he spoke. “The way Tony looks at you when you can’t see, he’s already extremely proud.”

“Really?” Kalen grinned. Then reality came crashing down. The fear returned to his eyes, reminding Bruce he was, in fact, just a kid.

“You know, I always find watching the sea strangely comforting. Just focusing on the waves.” Bruce moved to the lab window that overlooked the ocean below, Kalen followed. Walking right up and looking down as the waves rolled by. Bruce was right, the even predictability helped calm the unpredictability of their situation. Kalen had only felt that once before, after his first panic attack when he was wrapped in Jason’s arms. He closed his eyes, imagining his friend was next to him, allowing the feeling of steadiness to return.

Bruce was quiet for several minutes. Eventually, he moved away. “Have you ever made a tracking algorithm before?” Kalen shook his head. “Here, I’ll show you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kalen Stark aka the King of awkward greetings  
> For reason unrelated to the fact that I'm in the process of writing Age of Ultron, does anyone think Kalen could/couldn't pick up Mjolnir? I'd love to get some other people's thoughts on this


	3. I'll Bleed and Fight for You

Kalen sat cross-legged by the lab window, attempting to make out the sea through the gloomy grey clouds encompassing the Helicarrier. He knew he should have felt relieved as the Quinjet flew by, but he couldn't help but think how it was bringing Loki closer. Either that or the team had failed and Loki was still free to wreak havoc on the world. Neither option was particularly pleasant.

It promptly became clear the first was true. The entire Helicarrier settled into an eerie silence after the jet landed, not even the happy atmosphere in the lab was spared. Kalen all but jumped to his feet when heavy footsteps could be heard down the corridor. A parade of SHIELD agents marched passed, Loki in the centre with his hands secured behind his back.

Bruce stepped in front of Kalen, keeping him from Loki’s view, but Kalen peered around him. A gasp slipped from his mouth. Loki was  _ smiling  _ at Bruce, it wasn't forced, it was a genuine smile yet the most threatening Kalen had ever seen. He ducked back behind Bruce as Loki’s gaze drifted onto him, the sight of his swirling blue eyes burned into his soul.

As soon as they passed, Bruce turned to Kalen and knelt to match his height. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Kalen mumbled, hating how his voice shook. “I’m good.”

Bruce opened his mouth to speak, but the sound of the lab door opening cut him off. Kalen’s stomach dropped, thinking somehow Loki had escaped and come back.

Natasha stood in the doorway. Tony charged past her, his face lighting up when he saw Kalen. “Hey, Captain.”

“Dad!” Kalen shouted, giggling as Tony lifted him into his warm embrace and nuzzling his face into his neck. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, buddy. I’m great.” He put Kalen down, ignoring the sappy grin on Bruce’s face. “You’re never gonna guess who I just met.”

“Who?” 

“Thor.”

“No way! Thor’s here too?”

“Sure is. Got a mean swing, I'll give him that, though much more mental stability than his brother.”

Kalen cocked his head. “Wait, you fought him? He’s a god, you couldn’t possibly have won.”

“Of course I won-”

“No,” Natasha smirked from the doorway. “Steve stepped in before you could lose.”

Tony glared over at her, letting out a sigh. “Thank you, Agent Romanoff.”

Kalen bounced on his toes, beaming. “It’s still cool that you fought a god.” 

“It is, isn’t it.” Tony hummed. “Thank you, by the way, Banner. Looking after this little menace is no easy feat.”

“Anytime, he’s a great kid.”

“I don’t need babysitting,” Kalen muttered.

“Sure, I’ll consider taking you seriously when you can reach the dinner plates without that little step stool.”

Kalen grumbled an inaudible response. Natasha spoke from the doorway, “I don’t want to break this up, but Fury needs us on the bridge. Should I show Kal to his room?”

“That’d be great.” Tony said at the same time Kalen let out a resounding “No way!” Tony cocked his head, “Sorry, Captain, you get cranky without a nap, and nobody should have to see that.” Of course, that wasn’t the real reason. That was more along the lines of  _ oh god you’re already too caught up in all of this and I only want to keep you safe. _ “Go with Auntie Nat or I’ll donate your Harry Potter books to the public library.”

Natasha froze. Kalen and Bruce glanced between her and Tony, who hadn’t yet realised what he said. Then it hit him. “Oh,” Tony muttered, his eyes growing wide with shock. Kalen dashed across the room before he said anything to make it worse and followed Natasha into the corridor.

They walked in silence, neither quite knowing how to follow up on Tony’s words. Natasha turned into a long corridor identical doors, each with a number written in a small plaque. She stopped outside room 126, unlocking it with her pass and letting the door swing open. 

“ _ Auntie Nat _ ,” she hummed. “I like it.”

Kalen grinned. “Yeah, me too!” He lunged forward and wrapped her in a quick hug before stepping inside his room. Natasha ruffled his hair and made her leave, walking away with a little more bounce in her step. 

Kalen’s bag had already been placed at the end of his bed, just seeing the bed caused waves of tiredness to wash over him. With everything going on, he hadn’t realised he’d gone close to two days with only an unintentional nap on the Quinjet. He dug through his bag to find his toothbrush and pyjamas and, before he knew it, he was sound asleep. 

Loki’s eyes haunted his dreams, looming in the background and casting a ghostly blue light across everything. They were almost hypnotic with their swirling shades of blue, drawing him in and holding him captive in their depths. 

Kalen jolted awake with a yelp, clapping a hand over his mouth as he realised others were likely trying to sleep. Wearily, he dragged himself across to the bathroom. It was small, only big enough for a toilet and sink. He stood in front of the mirror, looking at his own brown eyes. Tony’s eyes.

At that moment, Kalen wanted nothing more than to be wrapped in Tony’s arms. Quick as he could, he changed out of his Captain America pyjamas - smiling as he realised Tony packed those to embarrass him - and ran out into the corridor. 

Every corridor in the Helicarrier looked nearly identical, Kalen had to ask the kinder looking SHIELD agents for directions to the lab more than once, but once he arrived, paused outside the door. A mess of voices rang out from inside, indistinctly shouting over each other. Peering into the room, Kalen noticed Loki’s sceptre on the table behind Bruce, just looking at it gave him a headache.

The room quieted as Steve and Tony faced off against each other. Steve’s brow creased in anger, “Big man in a suit of armour, take that off and what are you?”

“Genius, billionaire, father, philanthropist.” Kalen could tell just from Tony’s voice that he was struggling to contain his rage.

“I know guys with none of that worth ten of you." Steve spat. "I’ve seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself, bringing your son here proves that-”

“I fight  _ for  _ him, Rogers. I’ll give everything if it means he’s safe.”

“You’re not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you. You might not be a threat, but you’d better stop pretending you're a hero.”

Kalen covered his ears, trying to block out their voices as each word drilled into his skull.

“A hero? Like you?” Tony was shouting now, “You’re a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle.”

Kalen pressed his hands tighter, eyes squeezed shut. A constant ringing inside his head drove him crazy as he tried to swallow down an unexplainable rage.

_ “You want to know my secret, Agent Romanoff. You want to know how I stay calm.” _

_ “Doctor Banner, put down the sceptre.” _

As soon as it started, Kalen’s headache melted away. A computer beeping filled in the silence that followed. “The tesseract,” Bruce muttered, moving to read the screen. “Oh my god.”

The floor tiles under Kalen’s feet began to rumble, shaking themselves loose and falling into the darkness below as an explosion ripped through the lab. Kalen managed to grab hold of an unfallen tile, but his weight shifted it free and both plunged downwards. “DAD!” The scream ripped from his throat, but it was swallowed by the gloom. 

“Put on the suit.” Steve gasped, rolling to his hands and knees.

Tony had other concerns “Did you hear that?” His voice was frantic. “Please tell me I’m heading things.” Steve dropped his head, answer enough in itself. Tony scrambled to his feet, Kalen's voice came from the opposite side of the lab. He shouted over the fire that raged in the centre. “Thor?”

“Don't worry, Stark. I’ll find your son.”

Tony let out a breath of relief that Thor had heard Kalen's cry too. “I’m going to find a way around,” he muttered to Steve.

“Tony, the engine. You're the only one who can get out to fix it.”

Steve was right, Tony  _ hated _ that Steve was right. But if the Helicarrier crashed, Kalen wouldn’t stand a chance. “Okay.”

The Hulk’s roar brought Kalen around. Screaming was his first reaction, but he couldn’t, something huge weighed down on his chest and trapped him in the almost pitch black space he found himself in. Sweat beaded on his forehead and soaked his clothes, he turned his head sideways to see a roaring fire. Growing closer by the second. “Dad!” He gasped, barely making a sound. He took a deep breath to try again but only inhaled lungs full of smoke, each cough sending waves of pain through his chest.

He brought his arms up, palms flat against whatever was on top of him as he tried to push it away, inch it up to allow himself to breathe at least. Nothing. He tried kicking his feet, hitting his hands on the floor to alert someone to his position. The only reply was his own echo.

The fire was so close he could touch it, not that he was planning to. Kalen tucked his arm close to his body, putting as much distance between him and the licking flames as he could.

A crash rang out. Kalen whimpered, almost expecting more debris to fall down and crush him.

“Kalen!”

He snapped his head towards the sound, a figure emerging from the gloom. “Thor!” He rasped, “Help! Please I-I’m stuck-”

“I’ve got you , Son of Stark.” Thor ran closer and lifted the debris with ease. Kalen scrambled to the side, pushing through the pain in his chest as Thor dropped it again. “I’m going to take you somewhere safe.” He wrapped one arm around Kalen, the other hand holding Mjölnir up and lifted them off the floor. Thor kept a tight hold of Kalen as they flew up, only letting go when he was sure they were on safe ground. “This way.”

Kalen ran beside Thor, recognising the path back to the bridge. “Thank you,” he panted.

“It was nothing. We don’t leave team members behind.”

Kalen almost tripped, “You think I’m an Avenger?”

“Are you not?”

“Not yet,” Kalen muttered. They burst into the bridge, five guns trained on them.

“Hold your fire,” Fury ordered. He gestured to the lower lever, “Kalen, take cover down there. Thor, Agent Romanoff needs help with the Hulk.”

Thor nodded and doubled back while Kalen bolted to find a hiding spot. He crouched behind the wall under Fury’s control panels, fighting to remain level headed despite the chaos around him. Computer monitors blared warnings in flashing red, - not the closer look he'd been hoping for - while Agent’s shouted instructions over one another as they ran between stations.

“Grenade!”

The warning came less than a second before the explosion. It left Kalen’s ears ringing and he yelped as someone toppled over the railing above him. She rolled onto her back before sitting up, blood trickling from a cut over her eye, and giving Kalen a nod. Rising to her feet, she aimed her pistol over the railing, steadying it with both hands, and took a shot.

“Thank you, Agent Hill,” Fury said from somewhere above.

“There’s more coming,” Agent Hill informed, vaulting up and over the railing as more gunshots rang out.

A voice sounded over the PA system, mixing with Hill and Fury’s shouted conversation. Kalen watched a jet fly beneath the window, returning into view a moment later, just in time to see the Hulk rip off one of its wings. The pilot ejected, but the Hulk was faster. He caught the seat and threw it downwards, Kalen could only hope the pilot’s parachute would save them. The Hulk kept ripping chunks from the plane until, eventually, it exploded, flinging him from view. 

Kalen pulled his legs to his chest and tucked his head down, fighting for breath as though the debris was still crushing him. 

An explosion rocked the wall to Kalen’s right, then another further down, close enough to knock him off balance. He looked up to see an arrow sail across the room, landing somewhere amid a row of computers.

More warning’s blared as the Helicarrier lurched sideways, screens now showing two engines in red. The floor tilted to such a degree that several agents lost their footing, Kalen was seconds away from joining them when he grabbed hold of a desk to hold himself up. 

“It’s Barton. He’s headed down to the detention level.” Kalen didn’t know who Fury was talking to, or who Barton was. “Stark, we’re losing altitude!”

Kalen’s mind began to blur, he still couldn't catch his breath and the lack of oxygen was starting to mess with his brain. Fury appeared in front of him. “Can’t b-breathe,” he choked out. Fury leaned forwards, his words falling of deaf ears as Kalen slipped into unconsciousness.

When Kalen’s eyes fluttered open, he recognised his surroundings almost instantly. He turned his head to the side, where Tony had sat two years ago after the Stark Expo. Happy had taken his place.

“Kal! I’m so glad you're awake.” He exclaimed, leaning forward in his chair.

Kalen reached a hand up to pull the oxygen tube from his face, but Happy stopped him. He thought back to what happened, last he remembered everything was a complete and utter mess. “How did I get here? What happened on the Helicarrier? Is dad okay? Are the others?" He asked frantically, his eyes flicking between Happy’s as he pleaded for answers.

“Hey hey, breathe. Just breathe.” Happy calmed. “I’ll phone Tony, he can explain much better than me. I didn't understand half of what he said, anyway.” He pulled out his phone and dialled Tony’s number, he picked up on the first ring.

“Hap? Tell me Kay’s alright.”

“Yeah, he just woke up. He’s right here.”

“Hey, dad.”

“Oh thank god, you had me worried for a minute, buddy.”

“I’m okay, really.” It was true, he felt completely fine. Maybe a little drowsy, but okay. The SHIELD medics really must be the best of the best. “Where are you? What happened to the Helicarrier.”

Tony let out a long sigh, Kalen could imagine how his face must have looked. “Me and Cap fixed the engine, got the thing back in the air. Natasha’s with Agent Barton, apparently Loki mind-controlled him, but a knock to the head sorted him right out.” Tony paused just long enough for Kalen to get worried. “We don’t know where Bruce and Thor are, they fell from the Helicarrier. Loki escaped too and he- He killed Agent Coulson.”

“No…” Kalen breathed.

“I’m sorry, Kay. I have to deal with this, I’ll come home as soon as I can. I’m so sorry I’m not with you now.”

“It’s okay, dad. I understand, you gotta save the world. I love you.”

“I love you more.” Tony hung up quickly.

Not five minutes later, a nurse came in and ran a series of tests before giving Kalen a clean bill of health and allowing him to leave. Before he knew it, he was cuddled in Happy’s arms on the sofa at Stark Tower.

Kalen woke up, still on the sofa though Happy had been replaced by a cushion. He could hear voices coming from outside the room. Sitting up, he turned towards them but jumped when Happy spoke. 

“Kalen.” His voice wasn't his own.

Kalen twisted the other way, Happy stood in the corner of the room, his swirling blue eyes fixed on Kalen. Loki’s eyes. Kalen was about to scream when a haunting voice reached his ears. “I wouldn’t if I were you.” Loki materialised before his eyes. Wearing the same green robe and his sceptre clasped in one hand. 

“L- Let Happy go.” Kalen tried to sound brave, but his voice betrayed him. 

“Why would I do that when I have you right where I want you. A little leverage goes a long way.” Loki had the same malicious grin as on the Helicarrier.

Kalen clenched his fists to stop then shaking “What do you want with me?”

“Your cooperation until your father arrives.” Loki started towards Kalen. “You see, a war is coming. An unstoppable war, no matter how hard your father and his team may fight. The end of your world is inescapable. You’ll watch helplessly as hell rains down from the sky and lays waste to everything you know, then, and only then, may you be granted the mercy of a quick death.” Loki manifested a knife in one hand, slowly raising it and walking closer until the tip rested over Kalen’s heart. “What will it be?”


	4. I am Not Throwing Away my Shot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hold tight, things are getting wild

Tony couldn’t tear his eyes from the bloodstain on the wall. Coulson’s blood. The Avengers were supposed to be heroes, to protect the world from impossible threats, yet they only seemed to court chaos. Coulson was gone, Thor and Bruce missing, Loki escaped, and Kalen… Once again, Tony’s lifestyle had put Kalen's life at risk. This was precisely the reason he dialled down Iron Man two years ago, and now, within two days of returning, Kalen had been hurt.  _ Again _ . And Tony wanted nothing more than to hold his son in the safety of his arms. But he couldn't, not yet.

“Is there any news on Kalen?” 

Tony glanced towards the door, he hadn’t noticed Steve walk in. “He’s going to be okay." There was a moment where some of the tension in Steve's shoulder dissipated. "You were right," Tony continued, not meeting Steve's eye, "I should never have brought Kay here. I should be keeping him safe, but all I do is put him in danger. Stane, Vanko, Loki… He’s seen so much violence, so much heartache. All because of me.” Tears welled in Tony's eyes. His heart ached as he recounted what he'd subjected Kalen to. 

“Tony, you’re doing your best-”

“What if my best isn’t good enough?” Tony snapped. “What if  _ I’m  _ not good enough, as a father, as a ‘hero’.” He air quoted the word. Anger melted into sorrow. “I can’t lose him.”

“You won’t. We have your back, and that means Kalen’s too. This whole team is looking out for him-”

“So that’s what we are, a team? ‘Cause it feels like we’re an accident waiting to happen." Tony scoffed, "Hell, maybe we already did. You know how many agents were hurt today because we were fighting with each other? How many died? We couldn’t even save Coulson who, by the way, was probably our biggest cheerleader.”

Steve bowed his head. “I’m sorry. He seemed like a good man.”

“He was an idiot.”

“Why, for believing?”

“For taking on Loki alone.”

“He was doing his job.”

“He was doing our job.” Tony finally met Steve’s eyes. “He should have waited. He should’ve…” Tony trailed off, shaking his head. 

“Is this the first time you’ve lost a soldier?”

“We are not soldiers,” Tony growled. “Kay is  _ not  _ a soldier, he’s a  _ child _ ." Venom laced its way into his voice "I’m not going to march to Fury fife.”

“Neither am I. Fury's got the same blood on his hands as Loki does. But right now we got to put that behind us and get this done.” Tony hated to admit it, but Steve was right. “Now, Loki needs a power source. If we can put together a list-”

A thought passed through Tony's mind. “He made it personal.”

“That’s not the point.”

“That  _ is _ the point. That’s Loki’s point. He hit us all right where we live, why?”

“To tear us apart.”

“Yeah, divide and conquer is great, but he knows he has to take us out to win, right?” The thought was growing into an answer that made Tony sick to the stomach. “He doesn’t just want to beat us, he wants to break us down and be seen doing it.” He paused, watching Steve’s face twist with horror as he came to the same dreadful realisation. “He has his power source at Stark Tower, and he has my son.”

* * *

Kalen was trying his best not to freak out, trying to keep his mind calm enough to come up with a plan. But the sceptre-wielding God of Mischief pacing slow circles around him was proving too big of a distraction. The one thing Kalen had figured out was Loki’s plan, he had read the research notes, after all. The last thing Loki needed to activate the tesseract was a power source, and Stark Tower didn't lack in that regard. When the grim realisation hit, Kalen's heart started hammering in his chest. This was his fault. Tony had wanted to turn the arc reactor on in the morning, but Kalen had insisted. 

Kalen had handed Loki his war on a silver platter. A war which, in his words, would lay waste to everything Kalen knew.

A surge of relief ran through him when the distant sound of the Iron Man suit reached his ears. Though it was quickly quelled when Loki pulled him close with one arm and pressed his knife against Kalen’s neck. He could only watch as Tony landed and walked inside, the bots disassembling his suit suddenly seemed less impressive than a few days ago. 

“Please tell me you’re going to appeal to my humanity,” Loki drawled, a smirk pulling at the corners of his mouth.

Tony was not in the frame of mind for quips, his son was captive and nothing more important than ensuring his safety. His jaw worked as he stepped closer. “This is between you and me. Let him go.” His voice was thick with anger.

“Why would I do that when I have you right where I want you?" Loki was smiling now. "You wouldn’t dare try to harm me while your precious child’s life hangs in my hands.”

“I’m sorry, dad! I tried to stop-” Kalen’s words were cut off when Loki pressed harder with the blade, drawing a thin line of blood across his pale skin.

When Tony met Kalen's eyes, the anger fell from his face, replaced by a look that tried to convey reassurance. “It’s okay, buddy. I’ve got you, I promise.” Tony moved to stand behind the bar. 

“How sweet,” Loki jeered. “Sentimentality is one of humanity's greatest weaknesses, and it’s certainly yours.” Loki tightened his grip on Kalen, earning a soft whimper.

“Hey, eyes on me, buddy,”

“The Chitauri are coming,” Loki continued. “And sentiment won’t stop them, nothing will. So what do I have to fear?”

“The Avengers.” Kalen felt Loki’s grip loosen slightly. That was Tony’s plan, distract Loki just enough for Kalen to escape. “That’s what we call ourselves. We’re sort of like a team. ‘Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’ type of thing.”

Loki let out an arrogant chuckle and turned his head towards the window. Tony gave Kalen an almost imperceptible nod as Loki spoke. “Yes, I’ve met them.”

“Yeah, takes us a while to get any traction, I’ll give you that one. But let’s do a headcount, here. Your brother, the demigod.” At the mention of Thor, Loki shifted, moving the knife further from Kalen’s neck. “A super-soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend. A man with breathtaking anger management issues, a couple of master assassins…” Tony met Kalen’s eye, silently letting him know it was time. “And him.”

Before Loki had time to react, Kalen launched sideways, ducking under Loki's knife, and scampering out of his reach.

“Run!” Tony yelled as he charged towards Loki. 

Kalen did. He ran to the one part of his plan he’d actually formed. The crazy idea that first popped into his head two years ago. The sounds of Tony and Loki fighting followed him as he barrelled downstairs at such speed it’s a miracle he didn’t trip. Flinging open the lab door, he sprinted to the far corner - the corner Tony had coined as Kalen’s - and pulled away the fake bottom panel of his workbench. 

The sound of shattering glass, followed by screaming far below, pulled Kalen’s attention out of the window. To his horror, Tony plummeted past. “Come on,” Kalen muttered, looping his arms under the shoulders of his own Iron Man suit and lugging it into the open before pushing it upright. 

Tony shot back up past the window in the Mark VII suit. Kalen didn’t even know it was ready for deployment yet but thank god it was. A thud from above told Kalen Tony had landed, his voice loud enough to reach Kalen’s ears. 

_ “There’s no version of this where you come out on top. And maybe your army comes, and maybe it’s too much for us, but it’s all on you. Because if we can’t protect the Earth, you can be damn well sure we’ll avenge it.” _

That was the last shred of motivation Kalen needed. He knew Tony would be mad, he knew Tony would try to send him away, but he wasn’t going to let him fight the Chitauri - whoever they were - alone. 

The suit folded open at the front, Kalen stepped in and it closed around him. Jarvis booted up his heads up display, much like how Tony’s had on his first flight. Of course, that time Kalen only watched through a tablet screen. 

Something rumbled from the rooftop and caused the entire building to shake. Kalen held out his hand towards the window and shattered it with a single repulsor blast. He was about to run out of the window, but a thought stopped him. “Uh, Jay? Is the flight system working?” He never actually been able to test it.

“Flight system is fully operational, though I suggest you stay indoors as a matter of safety.”

“I can’t, dad’s alone out there.” Kalen sucked in a breath and sprinted towards the window, not allowing time to talk himself out of the idea before leaping over the edge and kicking the thrusters into action. 

He shot out from the tower, twisting mid-air to see where he'd come from. A grin lighting up his face,  _ it actually worked! _ For a brief second, he forgot about Loki’s army. Just enjoying the freedom that flying handed him, that is until he looked up.

A beam of light from the roof of Stark Tower reached up to the sky where it had ripped open a wormhole. Pitch black in the centre, then a ring of crackling blue-and-white surrounded by smokey tendrils of black spreading outwards. Hundreds of Chitauri poured out, flying in some kind of chariot like ships. 

The sight of Tony flying up towards them would never leave his head. One man against hundreds.

Kalen switched his display into fight mode and raced after his father, firing repulsors at stray Chitauri chariots on the way. Up ahead, one flew towards Tony from behind. Kalen levelled his hand at it and, within a second, turned the chariot to dust. Tony spun around to find the cause of the explosion, Kalen flew up to meet him.

“Hey, dad," Kalen said sheepishly, glad Tony couldn't see his face. And that he couldn't see Tony's.

“Kay? Where did- Did you make that yourself?”

“Yeah, you like it?” Kalen asked, weaving in and out of Chitauri chariots as they tried to stem the constant flow flooding from the portal. 

“Kinda stealing my colours there, Captain.” Tony shook his head. “What am I saying. Kay, take that suit and get as far away as possible.”

“No, I’m not leaving you to fight Loki’s army alone.” He risked a glance up, there were too many Chitauri for the two of them, let alone just Tony. 

_ You’ll watch helplessly as hell rains down from the sky. _ ..

“I’m not alone, the Avengers are coming. Get yourself safe, please.”

Kalen didn't need to see Tony's face to know he was fearful, his father's voice held a tight quality he'd only ever heard twice before. First, when Tony yelled for Pepper to overload the arc reactor, second when Kalen woke up after the Stark Expo. "When they arrive, I’ll go.” It was a weak attempt at a compromise.

“That’s a lie, Kay. We both know it.”

There was one thing worse than looking up. Looking down. Chitauri bombed the streets, firing on the innocent, defenceless people below. Fires erupted from wrecked or overturned cars as people scrambled into whatever shelter they could find. How could Kalen leave when the world was at stake? “I wanted to turn the reactor on early. Dad, this is already my fault. I have to put it right.”

“Kay…” Tony let out a breath as words failed him. “None of this is your fault. Loki would have found a way whether the reactor was on or not.”

“You don’t get it!” Kalen shouted. He pivoted mid-air and flew down to protect the civilians. “I can help fight this, but if I leave now and people get hurt… It happens because of me.”

Tony  _ did _ get it, it’s why he never been entirely able to let go of the suit. He had to be ready for something like this. And now, here it was unfolding in front of his eyes, and he had no idea how to stop it. 

_ An unstoppable war... The end of your world is inescapable... _

“Jay, can you get me into the Avengers comms?” Kalen asked. 

_ “Certainly, sir.” _

Kalen flew close to the ground and blasted Chitauri, but the swarm didn't seem to be thinning. Sirens blared as police arrived on the scene. Kalen was pretty sure there wasn't an alien invasion protocol, but at least they could attempt to organise an evacuation.

_ “Stark, we’re on your three, headed northeast.”  _ Natasha’s voice crackled over the comms. 

“What, did you stop for a drive-through? Swing up Park. I’m gonna lay ‘em out for you.”

Kalen decided to swing  _ off _ Park, not wanting another earful from Steve and Natasha as well. He turned up 36th Street where two Chitauri Chariots chased after a handful of fleeing citizens, aimlessly firing at the ground as they gained on them. Kalen kicked the thrusters up a notch, one hand raised towards the chariot on the left as he lined up a shot. It found it's target. The second Chitauri let out a guttural scream and pulled to a stop, twisting around to shoot at Kalen instead. Kalen rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding a blast of energy from the Chitauri weaponry, and hit the Chariot with a shot of his own. It clipped the right side and sent the vehicle lurching into a building in a fiery explosion.

Kalen flew on and hovered in front of the civilians. "Are you guys okay?"

They shared a few looks before nodding. "I think we're good, thanks to you." One of them said.

Kalen gave brief a nod. "Keep going, tell anyone you can to stay away from Stark Tower."

As he shot upwards, Kalen heard someone call after him. "We love you Iron Man!" Despite the confusion, it filled Kalen with a sense of fulfilment and pride.  _ He did that. He saved someone's life. _

Flying over the rooftops, Kalen caught sight of Thor and Loki locked in battle on the balcony of Stark Tower. He couldn’t help but smile, only one person was left until the team was complete. 

_ “Nat?”  _ Said a voice Kalen didn’t recognise. 

_ “I see him.”  _ The Avenger’s Quinjet rose into view alongside the tower, but before they could get a shot off, Loki hit one of the engines with a blast from his sceptre. The Quinjet lurched and plummeted. Kalen chased after it, turning a corner just in time to see it crash into the ground, leaving a trail of smoke and dust as it ripped into the concrete floor. He landed just behind and forced open the door. Steve stood just inside, ready to strike with his shield. “Stark?” He asked, confused at how Tony had lost almost two foot. 

Kalen opened his faceplate. “Technically.”

Natasha ran forward, a man by her side. “Kal?”

“Hey, Auntie Nat.”

“What is happening right now?” The man asked. “There’s a child in one of Stark’s suits.”

“Clint, meet Kalen. Kalen, Clint.”

“Yeah, I’m going to need more explanation than that.”

“ _ There’s no time. _ ” Tony said over the comms, “ _ Kay, I thought I told you to- _ ” The rest of his words were cut off by a deafening rumble from the wormhole. All four pairs of eyes snapping up to the source, watching in horror as a giant  _ thing _ glided through the portal with surprising grace. As it descended towards them, Kalen couldn’t help but notice it looked like an armour-plated whale, though it stretched on like a snake. A Space-Whale, not exactly your average day. Not even in New York.

The Space-Whale flew over their heads, Chitauri foot soldiers jumping from it and grappling onto surrounding buildings.

“Stark, are you seeing this?” Steve asked.

“ _ Seeing, still working on believing _ ,” Tony replied. Kalen had to admit it was a very relatable statement.  _ “Where’s Banner? Has he shown up yet?” _

“Banner?”

“ _ Just keep me posted. _ ” 

Kalen blasted any Chitauri that came close to the group while Tony attempted to take down the Space-Whale. An arrow sailed through the heart - or at least what Kalen expected was the heart - of a creature trying to break its way into an office window. Whatever it hit, it must be significant because the alien went limp and fell to the ground. Kalen turned around to find the source. “You have a bow and arrow?” He asked, seeing Clint already nocking a second arrow.

“Yeah,” He let it loose, “don’t knock it till you’ve tried it, kid.”

Kalen watched the arrow hit its target square in the chest, a target he hadn’t even seen coming. “That’s cool.”

“Wait, really?” Clint seemed genuinely surprised.

“No,” Natasha cut in. 

“What’s your Glock going to do, or Cap’s glorified frisbee. The kid’s probably the most equipped of us. And hey, at least my arrows explode.”

“They explode, too?” Kalen exclaimed. “That’s  _ so  _ cool!”

Another wave of Chitauri chariots soared over them, Kalen and Clint doing their best to thin the herd. “Cool’s maybe not the word I’d use,” Steve said. Chitauri foot soldiers closed in on the team's position while Chariots bombed the street of civilians below. “They’re fish in a barrel down there." Steve turned to Clint and Natasha. "Think you can hold them off?”

“Captain,” Clint fiddled with some sort of control on his bow, “it would be my genuine pleasure.” He shot the closest soldier, electricity sparked out and took down the two behind. Natasha executed the next group with a series of perfectly aimed shots while Steve ran to help the civilians.

Kalen followed Steve, covering him from air attacks while simultaneously trying to draw fire away from the fleeing citizens. Steve glanced up and gave Kalen a thankful nod as he vaulted over abandoned cars. Up ahead, the police had set up a roadblock with multiple officers trying to evacuate the area. Steve jumped onto a car roof and began barking orders. Kalen doubled back, focusing on the Chitauri who seemed to have increased in numbers despite his best efforts. More chariots burst in from a side street.

“Steve, watch out!” Kalen shouted as two Chitauri jumped from their chariot and came at him from both sides. He didn’t have time to check Steve had it handled as an explosion sent a car hurtling through the air, on a collision course with the blockade. Kalen raced after it as fast as his thrusters would allow. Seconds before it crashed down, he managed to catch the car on his back, panting as relief washed over him.

“Nice catch, kid,” Steve said as Kalen threw the car to the ground. Steve seemed to be the least fazed by Kalen’s involvement in the battle, though he was sure he'd be the subject of a six-on-one argument after all this was over.  _ If  _ all of this was over. Kalen put Steve’s unruffled reaction down to the fact that they were grossly outnumbered and losing a member now would only worsen those odds.

“Need a ride back?” Kalen asked, hovering beside Steve and offering him his hand. Steve nodded and gripped Kalen’s wrist, holding tightly as they flew back to Clint and Natasha. He dropped between the two, knocking a Chitauri to the ground with his shield. Kalen landed, hand raised towards the next attacker when electricity crackled around them. Thor soared towards them, electrocuting every invader within a five-meter radius.

“Cool,” Kalen and Clint muttered at the same time.

“What’s the story upstairs?” Steve asked.

“The power surrounding the cube in impenetrable,” Thor informed.

_ “He’s right,” Tony said over comms. “We got to deal with these guys.” _

“How do we do that?” Natasha asked.

“As a team,” Steve replied. “Loki’s going to keep the fight on us and that’s what we need. Without him, these things could run wild. We got the Starks up top, they’re going to need us too…” He trailed off, noticing his team were staring behind him.

Bruce rode towards them on a rusty, old motorbike. He dismounted as the team jogged to him, “Well, this all seems horrible.”  _ Another very relatable remark. _

“Dad, Bruce is here. What was your plan?”

_ “Tell him to suit up. I’m bringing the party to you.” _ Tony soared up onto Park Avenue, the Space-Whale close on his tail and crashing through buildings. It was almost an amazing sight, if that wasn’t his father being chased by a deadly alien.

“I don’t see how that’s a party,” Natasha said, shaking her head.

The Space-Whale dipped low enough to crash through cars and trees as Tony zipped overhead. “Doctor Banner. Now might be a really good time to get angry,” Steve said.

“That’s my secret, Cap.” Bruce looked over his shoulder. “I’m always angry.” His skin began to turn green as he transformed into the Hulk, turning and stopping the Space-Whale in its tracks with a single punch. The Whale’s tail flipped up, threatening to crush everyone below, but Tony hit it’s exposed flesh with a missile. Kalen leaned over Clint, as Steve did Natasha, as the Whale exploded and rained down chunks of metal and flesh.

The Avenger’s circled up, the Hulk roaring as Chitauri screamed at the loss of their weapon. Kalen opened his faceplate, leaning to whisper to Clint. “If this were a film, it would be where our theme song plays.”

Clint grinned, “And it would be awesome.”

Their glory was short-lived as more Space-Whales flew through the wormhole.  _ That _ was the moment Kalen was hit by the insanity of the situation. It wasn’t a film, or a book, or a game,  _ this was real. _ Aliens were in New York, a team of superheroes the only hope of stopping them from destroying the city, the  _ world _ possibly.

Loki’s words returned to Kalen,  _ you’ll watch helplessly as hell rains down from the sky and lays waste to everything you know _ . No. Kalen wasn’t helpless, not when he had the team at his side. His father at his side. There was a way they could do this, a way to save the world.

_ As a team _ .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo... I've been in a bit of a writing slump recently and barely written in two weeks. Don't worry though, I've got a bit of a backlog of chapters of this fic so there'll still be updates, just might be a bit of break sometime soon while I write other stuff to keep it fresh. Either way, I'll keep you updated.
> 
> P.s. Does anyone have any suggestions I can steal for superhero names for Kalen? I know Iron Lad is a thing but kinda wary to use that in case marvel introduce the character soon and I'm still updating this fic.


	5. I'll Make the World Safe and Sound for You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not saying I cried while writing this chapter... but yes, yes I did. I'm sorry.

_ As a team _ . 

That was how they would win. That was how they would defeat Loki’s army. Together.

Tony flipped up his faceplate and marched over to Kalen, pulling his gaze from the multitude of Space-Whales streaming from the wormhole. “Are you okay, buddy? Are you hurt?”

“I’m good, dad. Really, I am.” 

Tony pulled him into a hug, it was awkward, what with the suits, but the meaning still had its full impact. “I suppose telling you to get out of here’s still not going to work?” Tony knew Kalen could be just as stubborn as himself, which meant there was no talking him out of the fight. The only thing he could do was protect him.

“I can’t just leave people to die when I can be helping them,” Kalen said, almost sadly. He dropped his gaze, “I’m sorry.”

“No, buddy, no need to be sorry. Just be safe.” He turned to Steve, “Call it, Cap.”

Steve nodded. “All right, listen up. Until we can close that portal, our priority is containment. Barton, I want you on that roof. Eyes on everything, call out patterns and strays. Stark, I need you in the air keeping the fight centred around this spot.” He faltered as he moved on to Kalen, hesitant to send him into battle, but also to send him away. “Kid, can you patrol the perimeter? Anything gets more than three blocks out you turn it to ash.” His question was directed to Tony as much as Kalen. He got two nods in response.

Clint turned to Tony, “Can you give me a lift?”

“Right. Better clench up Legolas.” Tony said. He marched over, grabbed hold of Clint's shirt, and flew up to the rooftop before disappearing into the Chitauri horde above them. 

Kalen closed his faceplate and followed Steve’s orders. “Jay, can you mark out a three-block radius please?”

_ “Certainly, sir.” _ A red border appeared around the zone, making it easy for Kalen to keep to the edge as he eliminated any Chitauri who strayed too far. Occasionally Clint would call out a group threatening the boundary which Kalen rushed to deal with, but for the most part, he just stuck to his patrol.

Thor flew to the top of the Chrysler Building and bottlenecked the flow from the wormhole with a mighty lightning blast. Steve and Nat stuck to the ground, dealing with the foot soldiers and helping with the evacuation order while the Hulk had been set loose. Admittedly, he caused quite a lot of property damage, but his reckless methods were crucial in thinning the army’s numbers.

_ “Stark, uh, both of you actually,”  _ Clint called,  _ “the chariots can’t bank worth a damn. Tony, a tight corner will deal the bastards on your trail.” _

_ “Roger that,”  _ Tony replied.  _ “Captain, you still holding up? I’m coming your way.” _

_ “Tony I’ve got civilians with me, keep your distance,”  _ Steve ordered.

_ “Sorry, Cap. Didn’t mean you.”  _ Tony burst out of a tunnel and turned the corner with ease, the Chitauri following weren’t so successful and crashed into the building opposite. Kalen hovered in the street, poised to take out any survivors. “Good work, Kay. Barton, what else you got?”

_ “Thor's taking on a squadron down on Sixth.” _

“And he didn’t invite me. Kay you-”

“Yeah, dad. I’m good, you can stop asking.”

“Actually, I can’t. Keep on the perimeter.”

“You got it.” Kalen went back to his patrol. He’d lost count of how many Chitauri he’d slain a long while back, but still their numbers seemed endless. He also couldn’t help but notice the number of reporters and people filming on their phones who stuck to the bare minimum of the evacuation.  _ “Uh, guys. I’ve one of the Space-Whales coming my way, what should I do.” _

_ “Hang on Kay, I’m coming.”  _ Tony’s voice was at least an octave too high.

_ "Are we really calling them Space-Whales?"  _ Natasha asked.

"Well, it's less threatening than deadly aliens," Kalen replied. A roar filled his ears not the Whale's, but the Hulk’s. He smashed his way out of the building behind Kalen and leapt forward, grabbing hold of the Whale’s armour and turning it back.  _ “Nevermind, dad. Mister Hulk got it. Or is he Doctor Hulk? Do they both have PhDs?” _

Nevertheless, Tony appeared by Kalen’s side. An eight-strong squadron of chariots speed towards them. “Bet you’re glad I decided to come along now,” Tony joked.

“Definitely.” They charged headfirst into the centre of the squadron, circling back to back as they dealt with the invaders. Smoke and fire rose around them as the final chariot exploded. Kalen flipped up his faceplate, his eyes wide. “Cool!”

Tony laughed, shaking his head. “You never cease to amaze me.”

“It’s part of my charm.”

“All right, Captain, don’t get too big-headed about it.”

_ “What are you talking about, Stark?”  _ Steve asked, confused.

“Not you,” they chorused back. “Listen up, I saw your Auntie Nat on one of these Chariots so watch out.”

“Got it,” Kalen nodded. “Now get back in there, they need you.”

Tony hesitated to leave his son, but eventually gave him a nod and left.

Kalen wasn’t sure how long they’d been fighting, it felt like hours yet barely a few minutes at the same time. It must have been a while as his body ached from the prolonged time inside the suit, he made a mental note to add some padding in case this happened again.

Every time Tony checked in, Kalen gave the same answer, ' _ good _ .' He wasn’t hurt, nothing more than cuts and bruises at least, but he certainly wasn’t great either. As time wore on, the insanity of their situation began to play on his mind. He was worried about Happy, who he hadn’t seen since Loki brainwashed him, and Pepper was supposed to be flying back today. What if her plane had been caught up in this mess. The mess he created because he didn’t want to wait to turn on the reactor.  _ If only they’d waited. _

He landed on a rooftop, unable to escape the suit fast enough. He fell to his knees, pressing his hands against the cold tiles as he tried to ground himself back to reality. The world swam. Squeezing his eyes closed, Kalen imagined Jason’s face and the words he’d said to him.  _ Just breathe. You’re okay. Just breathe. _

The world began to return to normality, well as normal as it could be while aliens poured from the skies. A distant voice called his name. Kalen scrambled to his feet and ran back to his suit. “Yeah, I’m here.”

_ “To your right,”  _ Clint said, a slight tinge of worry in his voice. 

Kalen looked and saw two chariots breaking the perimeter. He fired up the thrusters again and took after them. “I’m on it.” They were quite a way out, meaning it took Kalen a while to catch up to them. He raised his hand and fired a shot at the pair, it caught the side of the left one and sent it crashing to the ground. Kalen dipped down to make sure the Chitauri hadn’t survived the crash before lining up a shot on the second.

Just as he was about to fire, something orange shot from a rooftop and destroyed the chariot. Kalen held out hands in front of him, coming at an abrupt stop as he tried to find the source.  _ There. _ He spotted someone standing on the roof of a rather grand looking building, dressed in a long yellow robe. She watched as Kalen flew closer, her face completely unreadable yet somehow still inviting.

Kalen landed and stepped out of his suit, she didn’t appear to be a danger, and took a few paces forward. “Who are you?” 

“Some call me the Ancient One.” Her tone was incredibly calm, considering aliens were attacking New York. She pulled back the hood of her robe to reveal a very youthful face despite her name.

“Oh, that's um… kinda mean.” He glanced over to the wormhole, hoping the others hadn’t noticed his absence.

“Don’t worry, Kalen, the Avengers will be fine until you get back.”

That raised a lot more questions very quickly. “You know the Avengers? You know  _ me _ ?” She nodded but offered no further explanation. “That Chitauri just now, was that… did you… Did you use magic to destroy it? ‘Cause I know that’s improbable but from what I saw, not that I exactly saw much, it did kinda look…” He trailed off, realising he was rambling, to a complete stranger, about  _ magic _ , while his friends needed his help.

“Yes.”

Kalen’s knees almost buckled beneath him. He grabbed hold of a plant pot with one hand to steady himself. “You're telling me magic is real? That’s crazy, that’s full-on nuts! And that’s so c-”

“Cool?” 

“Yeah,” Kalen breathed. “Wait, did you know I was going to say that? Can you read minds?" He narrowed his eyes. "Can you see into the future?”

“I’ve spent many years peering through time and prevented countless terrible futures, after each one there’s always another. But in all of them, you remain a constant. In every future I’ve seen, you join in this battle, we always have this exact conversation. Every future, your life remains unchanged.”

Kalen clapped a hand over his mouth to stem the endless flow of words that he was about to spew out. A pause stretched between them, Kalen realised he was just staring at the Ancient One. “What does that mean for me? Is there some sort of prophecy?”

“Not one that I’ve read. I can’t tell you what it does mean, though.”

“Can’t because you don’t know” Kalen’s voice squeaked as he spoke. “Or can’t because it would mess up the timeline?”

“Quite possibly both. There’s a point in time that I cannot see past so, unfortunately, I don’t hold the answers to all of your questions.”

Kalen took deep breaths as he tried to process all of this information, but it was too much all in one go for it to fully sink in. “Wait,” he faltered, “does that mean that everything I’ve done, everything I’m going to do in the future, is totally meaningless? If everything is already set out for me, then what I chose to do doesn't matter, because I was always going to do it.”

The Ancient One shook her head. “Quite the opposite, it means every time you are faced with a choice, you make the right decision, and that that decision will have great significance to the world. To the Universe, even.” Kalen couldn’t help but wonder how far that stretched,  _ did his choice of morning cereal affect the world? _ “You may be living on a set path, but to me, that only shows that you have one of the strongest of wills. Your need to protect, to care, is stronger than time itself.”

“Woah,” Kalen breathed, at a loss for words. Raised voices from his suit comms pulled him back to the scenes happening just a few blocks away.

“I believe that’s your cue to leave.”

Kalen scampered back to his suit. “It was nice meeting, Mrs Ancient One.” He blurted before his comms reactivated. She nodded a goodbye as Kalen flew back to the fight, listening to the team’s shouts as he went.

_ “Yeah, Hulk went in after him.” _

_ “Surely he dealt with Loki, just look at him.” _

_ “Flying past now… Yup, Loki’s down for the count.” _

Their celebration was short-lived as Clint spoke up.  _ “Guys I’m out of arrows, and there’s trouble coming my way.” _

Kalen looked Clint’s direction, he was stranded on a rooftop as Chitauri barrelled towards him. He spun mid-air and charged to save him, “I’ve got you.” He glanced towards the gaining Chitauri, already raining destruction in their eagerness to kill.

_ “Any second now, kid,” _ Clint muttered, backing as far away as he could. Explosions erupted around him, chunks of rubble falling to the road below. Kalen burst through the flames and slipped his hands under Clint’s shoulders, lifting him to safety. Thor shot by, taking out both of the threats while Kalen set Clint down on another roof - this one with at least three arrow riddled Chitauri bodies. “Thanks for the save,” Clint panted.

Kalen flew backwards, saluting. “Anytime.” He watched as Clint’s eyes widened in horror.

“Watch out!”

Too late. The Chitauri missile collided with Kalen’s side, knocking him entirely out of control. Kalen’s vision flipped from sky to road, sky, road, as he tumbled through the air. With a sense of terror, he realised the road was getting bigger with each rotation. 

He hit the ground hard, bouncing and rolling a good distance away and kicking up fragments of rubble with each collision. Kalen’s head bashed against the sides of his helmet until, eventually, he came to a stop. He didn’t dare open his eyes to begin with, but when he did, he was greeted by the sight of Chitauri soldiers running his way. He tried to move, to fly away, to raise his hand, but every slight movement just caused his head to swim and bile to rise in his throat. Instead, he squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the attack.

It never came. Squinting his eyes open, he saw Steve and Thor tackling the creatures. One of them got hit on Steve, knocking him to one knee, but Thor was there to back him up, hitting the underside of a car with his hammer and sending it crashing into the final attackers. He offered Steve his hand and pulled him to his feet before both ran to Kalen.

“Son of Stark, are you alright?”

Kalen pushed himself to a sitting position. The world swirled a little less with every passing second, though Kalen doubted two Steves and Thors were standing over him. “I just need a second,” he mumbled.

“What, are you getting sleepy?” Steve said with a grimace, clutching a hand to his wound.

_ “I can close it. Can anybody copy? I can shut the portal down.”  _ Natasha shouted.

“Do it!” Steve yelled back.

_ “No, wait,”  _ Tony cut in.  _ “I got a nuke coming in. It’s gonna blow in less than a minute.” _

Kalen stumbled to his feet, surprised he could manage such a feat as he thought Tony had just said a  _ nuke _ was coming.

_ “And I know just where to put it.” _

“Stark,” Steve said, his voice low. “You know that’s a one-way trip.”

_ “Save the rest for the turn, Jay.” _

Kalen watched as Tony came into view, carrying a missile on his back. “No.”

_ “Kay…” _

“No! Dad no, you can’t do this! I need you!”

_ “I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry buddy.” _ Tony’s breath hitched.

“Don't leave me, please. Dad, just... find another way.”

_ “There's no time." _ Kalen could hear the tears in Tony's voice. " _ I need you to listen to me, please. Just listen. You are the best thing that ever happened to me, and I don’t want to leave you. But I can’t see any other choice, buddy. I’m going to make the world safe for you. God, there are so many things I don’t have time to say… You’re everything. And one day you’ll grow to be the best thing that ever happens to the world, remember that. Promise me.” _ Tony activated his thrusters and turned skyward, shooting towards the wormhole.

“I promise.”

_ “I love you so much, Kay. I always will.” _

“I love you more…”

_ “Tell Pepper I-” _ He disappeared through the portal, swallowed by the darkness beyond.

A horrible silence rang in Kalen’s ears, tears streamed down his face and he just about collapsed to the floor. He felt numb, not sad, not angry. Just numb as he stared at the space where his father used to be. None of the Avengers spoke, none knew what to say. All around them, Chitauri dropped limply to the floor, the Space-Whales plummeted from the sky. 

There was a moment of nothing. Then Kalen’s heart exploded, shattered into irrecoverable pieces as if it knew something his brain hadn’t figured out yet.

_ “Come on, Stark,” _ Natasha muttered.

Steve glanced at Thor, they nodded in agreement.

“Don’t!” Kalen shouted. “Don’t say it.”

“I’m sorry. Nat, close it.”

The light beaming up from Stark Tower disappeared and, slowly, the wormhole closed in on itself. A scream ripped from Kalen’s throat. Thor was there in seconds, trying his best to comfort him. Kalen fell to his knees as sobs tore through his body.

“Son of a gun,” Steve muttered, a strangely timed air of relief in his voice. Wait. Kalen looked up, Tony fell through the wormhole at the last possible second, plunging back down to earth.

“He’s not slowing down.” Thor was already spinning Mjolnir to fly up and catch him when the Hulk leapt in and snatched him from the air with one arm, the other slowing down their fall on the building opposite. When they were close to the ground, he bounced from the building and landed on his back, keeping Tony safe from any further damage.

Kalen was running forward before they'd landed, ditching the suit on the way. Steve and Thor were close behind and Clint grappled down to join them. Kalen heaved Tony onto his back and fumbled for the release levers of his suit. “Dad! Dad, come on. Talk to me!”

He found the levers and, with the help of Steve, pulled Tony from his metal coffin. “Jarvis?”

“There are no signs of life...” The AI sounded more human than he had before. “I’m sorry.”

“You’re wrong, there’s got to be- He can’t just-” Kalen pressed his finger to Tony neck, his wrist, hovered a hand over his mouth, looking for any sign that he was alive. He laced his fingers over Tony’s chest and tried to perform CRP, though he’d only seen it in movies.

“Kalen,” Steve said, his voice gentle. “He’s gone. I'm sorry.”

“No!” Kalen refused to believe it. He  _ wouldn't _ believe it.

Steve laid a hand on Kalen’s shoulder, stopping his CRP attempt. “Kal…”

The Hulk let out an anguished roar, deafening everyone in a five-block radius. Kalen didn’t have the heart left to care, he stared at his father’s pale, lifeless body. He grabbed Tony’s hand in his, “Please, dad. Please don’t leave me. I need you… Please don't leave.”

Nothing. Tony was gone.

_ Please don’t leave. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooo...
> 
> oof
> 
> See y'all Friday


	6. I'll See you on the Other Side

Steve tried to pull Kalen away from Tony’s body, but he clung on tightly, refusing to be moved as he screamed and cried out for his father. Kalen turned on the other Avengers, “Why aren’t you doing anything?” He yelled, his voice breaking from raw emotion. “Help him. Please, help him!”

Clint stepped closer. “Kalen,” his voice was soft, fragile, and his eyes glistened. “There’s nothing we can do. I’m sorry.” 

“Why does everyone keep saying that? Stop being sorry and do something!”

Natasha ran towards them, having made her way down from the tower. She vaulted over rubble and skirted around upturned cars as she rushed to her nephew's side and pulled him into her arms. Kalen sobbed into her shoulder, unable to stem the tears.

“W-What do I tell Auntie Pepper?" He hiccupped. "Da- He didn’t finish…” Kalen couldn't bring himself to say 'dad'.

Natasha didn’t answer. Instead, she stayed perfectly still, as did everyone else. The fires that should have been crackling around them froze, as did the dust and soot in the air. Kalen pulled back, wiping tears from his eyes as he was thrust into yet another mystery. “Auntie Nat?” No reply. He pushed her shoulder, but she didn’t react in the slightest. “Auntie Nat! Steve!”

Natasha stepped back awkwardly, slowly at first but speeding up as she ran  _ backwards _ , away from them. Clint’s mouth moved soundlessly before stepping away. Everyone around Kalen repeated their actions  _ in reverse _ . Kalen watched on, his legs frozen to the spot as the Hulk roared, as Steve dragged Tony back to his suit.

A blinding flash of white light…

And Kalen was back in his suit standing between Steve and Thor, both of whom were staring up as Tony flew overhead with the missile.

_ “You’re everything. And one day you’ll grow to be the best thing that ever happens to the world, remember that. Promise me.”  _ Tony turned upwards, shooting towards the portal.

_ Not again, please, not again.  _

_ “Kay?” _

Without thinking, Kalen chased after Tony, gaining on him without the added weight of the missile. The Avengers shouted after him, but Kalen tuned them out as he focused on Tony. “I’m sorry.”

_ “What?” _

Kalen wasn’t going to catch Tony in time. He raised his hand and fired a repulsor at one of his father’s foot thruster. Tony yelped as he dropped, forced to let go of the missile with one hand to keep himself from falling. Kalen rocketed past him, pulling the weapon from Tony's grip as he went.

_ “Wha- Kay, no!” _

“I’m sorry, dad. I can’t lose you.” 

Was this what the Ancient One meant? She'd called him a constant, said that his actions were the same in every future she saw. Then surely this was always going to happen, wasn't it? Kalen closed his eyes as the portal grew closer, he sucked in his last breath. 

“I love you.”

Kalen didn’t get to hear Tony’s reply as he soared through the wormhole. The Chitauri mothership loomed before him, a dark shape against a nebula of swirling blues and purples. With the remainder of his failing strength, Kalen threw the missile towards the ship, forcing his eyes to stay open long enough to watch it explode in an almighty fireball.

The force of throwing the missile caused Kalen to drift back, his eyes fluttering shut. As his lungs screamed out for, a final thought passed his mind.  _ I’ll see you on the other side. _

With only one working foot thruster, Tony struggled to remain in the air, let alone try to follow Kalen. It was all he could do to hover where he was, about three-quarters of the way up to the wormhole,  _ to his son. _ His eyes burned, yet Tony refused to blink in case he missed Kalen falling back through. 

None of the Avengers dared to speak. Each one feeling a wave of guilt at having let Kalen fight in the first place, and now... As the seconds stretched on, Tony’s heart hammered as he wildly scanned the void. “Come back to me, Kay," he whispered. "Just come back."

“Close it,” Steve said eventually.

“Don’t you dare, Romanoff,” Tony snapped. “Don’t you dare leave my son up there.” A part of him felt awful for shouting at Natasha, she loved Kalen too, but if she closed that portal and abandoned him... Tony would never forgive her.

The portal remained open as more seconds ticked passed. Tony’s brain screamed that they should be shutting it before anything else, anything  _ worse _ , could come through, but the hope in his heart won out.

“Kalen!” A body fell through. Tony kept his eyes trained on his son and positioned himself in his path, catching him in his arms. The added weight took its toll on Tony’s damaged suit, they half-fell-half-flew to the ground and landed in a cloud of dust and rubble. 

“Tony!” Steve shouted, running alongside Thor to check on them. Tony cradled Kalen in his arms, muttering quietly while trying to wake him. “Is he…?”

“Shut it, Rogers.” Tony didn’t have time to worry about anyone other than his son. Tear’s stained his face as he rocked Kalen and whispered. “Come on buddy, come back to me. Come back.” 

Kalen sucked in a sharp breath, his eyes flying open and looking around wildly as he took in his surroundings. “Dad?” He panted between gasps.

“Yeah, it’s me, buddy.” He hugged Kalen closer. “You’re back, I got you. I'm here.”

Kalen relaxed into the embrace as his shoulders shook with relieved sobs.  _ He was back, Tony was back _ .  _ They were going to be okay. _

“I think you earned a day off tomorrow,” Tony smiled through his tears. Kalen let out a wet laugh. “Hey, remember that shwarma joint a couple blocks from here? You wanna grab a bite?”

“We’re not finished yet,” Thor reminded, his eyes on the Tower. 

“And then shwarma after?”

Before Kalen really had time to process it, the Avengers stood over Loki in the living room of Stark Tower. Two Loki-sized holes in the floor confirmed their earlier suspicions that Hulk had dealt with Loki before the nuke was a threat. To Kalen, though, that conversation felt like years ago. He was already thinking up a plan to sneak away to talk to the Ancient One again.

Clint was upfront, an arrow trained over Loki’s heart. Loki looked up, his eyes landing on Kalen. Tony stepped in front of his son, but, this time, Kalen didn’t flinch. He stared back. Loki’s eyes seemed duller than they had on the Helicarrier.

“All right, get him on his feet. We can all stand around posing up a storm later," Tony said. "By the way, feel free to clean up.” He guided Kalen away, not planning on letting him out of his sight for the foreseeable future. “We’ve still got to find Happy.”

“Who gets the, uh, magic wand?” Natasha asked, Loki’s sceptre in her hands.

“STRIKE Team’s coming to secure it.” 

As if on cue, the lift dinged and the door slid open, the STRIKE Team consisted of five agents who quickly came in and took control of the situation.

Steve beelined for the other lift, “On my way down to coordinate search and rescue.” 

Kalen glanced over his shoulder as Tony started up the stairs. Loki transformed himself in Steve, “ _ On my way to coordinate search and rescue,” _ he mimicked before turning back into himself. “I mean, honestly, how do you keep your food down.”

“Shut up,” Thor grunted, pressing something over Loki’s mouth. “Stark, we’ll handle everything up here until you return.” He called after Tony.

Tony halfheartedly hummed a response as Kalen hurried after him, both worried about their friend. They searched every corner for Happy, not knowing what Loki might have done to him. Just as he was beginning to fear the worst, Kalen spotted him. “Hey dad, over here!”

Happy lay face down outside the door to the lab. “Back up, Kay. He might still be under Loki’s spell.” Tony went ahead, cautiously rolling Happy onto his back and let out a sigh of relief when he saw a bruise on his forehead. “He’s good. Whatever he hit must have done the job,” he called back to Kalen. “Come on, Hap. Nap time’s over.” He patted Happy’s cheek until he woke up, jolting upright as everything came crashing back.

“Loki he’s here- Oh god, Kalen I’m so sorry. Wait, why are you wearing that? What happened?”

“Breathe, Hap. Everything’s sorted. We’ll explain it all later.”

Kalen stepped out of his suit and hugged Happy. “I’m glad you’re back!”

“Yeah, me too.” Happy’s phone rang before anyone could say anything more, he pulled it from his pocket. “It’s Pepper, I’ll put her on speaker.”

“Happy! This is the hundredth time I've called! Tony isn't picking up, what’s going on? ” Pepper sounded frantic and close to tears.

Kalen answered first. “Hey, Auntie Pepper!”

“Kal? You’re okay?”

“I’m fine. And dad and Mister Happy are, too.”

“It’s true,” Tony added. “Somehow we’re all okay. Are you on the way here?”

“Yeah, the flight was delayed. Probably an hour out still.” She paused. “What happens now?”

“Well, right now I have to deal with a magical space cube. Then I think we’re getting lunch. After that... well, I don't actually know. I hate to go, Pep, but the team’s waiting on me. Do me a favour and tell Rhodey he’s a little late to the party.”

“I’ll tell him you’re all okay," Pepper laughed, reading between the lines. "And Tony, I love you.”

“Love you too, Pep.”

“Yuck,” Kalen giggled as Happy hung up the call.

Tony rolled his eyes, “All right, Captain, let’s get this sorted.”

After a bellyful of shawarma and teary reunions with Pepper and Rhodey, Kalen sat on the corner of his bed. He was supposed to be asleep, but instead, he was quietly tying his shoelaces and pulling a jumper over his head. Kalen crept down the corridor, electing to take the stairs so as not to wake Tony and Pepper who were snuggled on the sofa, the TV still showing news footage of the attack. 

Before long, he had arrived at the fancy-looking house of the Ancient One. The door opened of its own accord after a single knock. Tentatively, Kalen stepped inside, admiring the grandeur of the decor. “Ma'am?” He called out, not wanting to intrude.

“Kalen,” The Ancient One appeared at the top of a grand staircase. “I had a feeling you’d return.”

That stopped Kalen in his tracks. “A feeling? Haven’t you seen this happen before?”

The Ancient One glided down the stairs, coming to a stop before talking. “Something unexpected happened.”

“Unexpected?”

“You changed the timeline." At the Ancient One's words, Kalen's blood ran cold. "It was supposed to be your father to go through the wormhole.”

“B-But he did,” Kalen stammered. The Ancient One narrowed her eyes, waiting for an explanation. “He went through the portal and he- he-” Kalen couldn’t bring himself to say  _ died. _ “Didn’t wake up. Then it was kinda like time reversed, and suddenly I was back about to watch him do it again.”

The Ancient One nodded slowly as he spoke. There was a long pause before she replied. “I had an unanticipated visitor after you left, two actually, that was the first sign something like this was going to happen.”

“I’m sorry, something like  _ what _ ?”

“A time correction. There are certain events in time that have to happen. In the rare case that something goes off course, time corrects itself to ensure the continuance of these events. I’ve never encountered one before, so this is… all quite new to me, too.”

“Am I one of those points in time? My life?”

“I used to think so, but now I’m not so sure. You changed the unchangeable timeline, I don’t know what that means, but you and your father must be destined for great things.”

Kalen nodded, he’d never thought it possible to relate to Harry Potter on this level. Yet, here he was being told by an elderly sorcerer that he had some kind of unknown, 'great' destiny. He half expected a prophecy orb to fall into his hand.

The Ancient One offered him a warm smile, “This is a lot to take in. Go home, Kalen, get some rest. I’ll be here whenever you have any questions.”

Kalen was about to ask how she’d know he was coming, but then laughed at the absurdity of the question given she could see into the future. He backed towards the door, “I’ll see you around.” The Ancient One smiled and bowed her head as he left.

He walked back to the Tower on autopilot as questions swam through his brain. Tony and Pepper were no longer on the sofa, Kalen heard their voices as he passed their room.

_ “I don’t know what to feel. When Kay first appeared in that suit, I was scared out of my mind that something might happen to him, then when he went in the wormhole… God, Pep, if he dies then I die too. He was gone what, a minute? And I was barely holding it together.” _

_ “I know, I felt that too and he’s not even my kid.” _

Tony scoffed,  _ “He might as well be your kid, you’ve been looking out for him his entire life.”  _ There was a long pause,  _ “I’m sorry I put you through that, I should’ve made sure he was out of there. I shouldn’t have taken him to the Helicarrier in the first place. I should have been better.” _

_ “Don’t do that. Don’t blame yourself. You did what you had to do, these aren’t exactly circumstances you can read about in a parenting book.” _

_ “He’s supposed to be my number one priority and I put him second, look what happened.” _

_ “You did put him first, saving the world  _ is  _ saving Kal.” _

Another long pause, followed by rustling.  _ “I'm going to check on him, I can hardly bear not seeing him right now.” _

Kalen scrambled down the hallway to his bedroom and flung himself under the covers just before Tony opened the door. “Hey Captain,” he whispered, noticing he was still awake. “Trouble sleeping?”

“Yeah." Kalen faked a yawn and sat up. "There’s just a lot to think about.”

Tony sat on Kalen’s bed, mindlessly playing with his hair. “I get that." He paused. "What would you say to getting outta here for a few days. Just me and you, no news, no phone calls, no press. Definitely no Fury." 

Kalen smiled, “Yeah, I’d like that.” He thought about what Tony said to Pepper. “Can I sleep in your bed tonight?”

“Of course you can.” Tony carried Kalen back to his room, and they fell asleep in each other's arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully this make up for the last chapter


	7. Look at my Son

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter for Avengers Assemble, hope you enjoy!

"You're getting really good at cooking pancakes, dad," Kalen murmured through a mouthful of food.

Tony raised his eyebrows, looking over his shoulder from where he washed a pan in the sink. "Are you saying I wasn't before?" 

Kalen shoved another heap of pancakes in his mouth so he couldn't reply and licked his fingers once he'd finished.

"You'd better get ready for school, if you're sure you're ready to go back."

"I am," Kalen said with a nod. Tony couldn't help but admire Kalen's ability to bounce back from any situation. After all the trauma he'd suffered through, he still managed to find good in the world, and in pancakes.

Tony looked Kalen over, trying and failing to stifle a laugh. "Kay, come over here." Kalen slipped out of his seat and skipped across the kitchen. Tony grabbed a paper towel and started wiping at Kalen's mouth, "You've got butter everywhere."

Kalen tried to bat him away, "Hey! I can do it myself."

Tony ignored his efforts, "I mean, really, how did you get it on your nose?" Kalen gave up his protests and just waited for Tony to finish, rolling his eyes as Tony dragged it out as long as he could. "There, all done."

"Thanks, dad."

"You're welcome. Now, hurry up and get dressed, I'm going to drive you in before I head home."

Kalen skipped to his room. It was exactly as it had been three years ago, before his mother had been killed. It was hard, at first, to return to his old home and all the bad memories that came with it. But then the happy memories came flooding back too. Kalen knew he'd never be free of the sight of his mother's lifeless body bleeding into the carpet, but it no longer haunted him the way it had used to.

He tugged open his travel bag, which Fury had been kind enough to drop off after the whole wormhole-over-New-York fiasco, and picked out an outfit. After getting changed and brushing his teeth, Tony helped Kalen fold up his clothes to repack his bag. A photo frame on his bedside table caught Kalen's eye. It was a picture of two-year-old Kalen and his older brother, Zach, taken just days before Zach moved away and hadn't been heard from since. It was also the only sign that a second child had ever lived in the house.

Tony caught Kalen staring. "We can take it home if you want. It would fit nicely on the mantlepiece."

Kalen smiled, "Yeah. Can we take some of the board games too? I actually had fun playing them."

"Of course, I'll pack 'em up. Plenty of room in the car." He checked his watch, "but we really have got to get going sharpish."

Kalen scooped up his school bag and slung it over his shoulders. "I just need to find some shoes."

The drive to school went quicker than either of them wanted, both wished their weekend would last forever. But Tony knew he would have to address the public about what went down in New York, Pepper could only keep the press off his back for so long.

"Lotta people dropping their kids off," Tony remarked as he looked for a parking space that wasn't already occupied.

"Like  _ a lot, _ " Kalen added, "I've never seen it this busy before. Oh!" He pointed through the windscreen, "There's a space over there!"

"Nice spot, Captain." Tony pulled in and turned off the engine, pulling on a hat and sunglasses before stepping out of the car. He glanced around quickly and tugged the cap further down to hide his face.

Kalen slipped his hand into Tony's and dragged him down the street. "Come on, I'm going to be late!"

"I was never this happy to go to school," Tony muttered as he walked alongside Kalen. "You want to catch the bus home or should I come to pick you up?"

"I'll take the bus, you've got a lot of things to take care of already."

"Understatement of the year." Tony definitely didn't regret taking time away from everything with Kalen, but part of him had hoped that, somehow, it would all just blow over before he had to deal with it again. Clearly, that was not the case.

"I found all of the people," Kalen said as they turned towards the school. The place was packed full of people, all of whom seemed to be clambering to get closer to the building. As they got closer, Kalen could just about make out cameras and microphones amongst the crowd. "Um… What's going on?"

"I'm not sure." Tony stopped abruptly as someone at the back of the crowd turned his direction and quickly ran towards them. "Get behind me, Kay," he mumbled as he tucked Kalen behind his leg.

"Tony Stark! Tony Stark is it true?" By now, half of the crowd were making their way over, cameras, microphones and all.

A hundred ideas ran through his brain of how he could talk his way out of this situation. He pulled off his hat and flashed his press smile. "Is what true? Been a busy couple of days."

"That you have a son, Kalen Stark, who goes to this school. The boy who saved those people on the bus during the fight with Obidiah Stane. The one who went through the wormhole."

Kalen's world ground to a halt. He grabbed the back of Tony's shirt in his fist, Tony reached back and rested his hand on Kalen's shoulder. By now, more reporters had arrived, all demanding answers from a speechless Tony.

To their relief, Happy pulled up and sprang out of his car. He ran across the street to block the reporters from getting any closer. "I think it's best if you get outta here, boss. I'll keep them away."

Tony nodded and turned on his heel, steering Kalen back to the car as quickly as humanly possible. They sat in stunned silence for almost two minutes, Happy seemed to have done his job well as not a single reporter found them.

Kalen was the first to speak, "This makes it easier for us to go and see Newsies, at least."

Tony laughed loudly, "You can give up the grifting, Captain. I booked tickets before we left New York."

"Wait, really?!"

Tony turned to his son, "Out of everything that's just happened, that's your question?"

Kalen dropped his head, "How do you think they found out?"

"That's the million-dollar question." Tony reached for his bag in the back seat and pulled out his phone, impatiently waiting for it to turn on. Hundreds of messages and notifications popped up, Tony scanned them quickly. "Ah, Happy text yesterday." He opened up the message and read it aloud. "'You probably won't see this until it's too late, but here's how everyone knows.' Well, that's extraordinarily helpful." He opened the link Happy sent and held out his phone for both to see.

The link led to a youtube video titled 'I HACKED THE AVENGERS!' It started as a black screen, the words 'I hacked into the comms channel the Avengers were using during the fight. Unfortunately, the battle was almost over, here's what I found. I think you'll find it interesting.'

It cut to shaky phone camera footage of the fight from the evacuation perimeter, it started just as Kalen saved Clint from the rooftop before getting hit and crashing to the ground. Thor's voice could be heard, as clear as day, asking Kalen if he was okay.

"Nonono," Tony muttered, skipping forward. They listened back to their own goodbyes and watched the events unfold from the outside. Kalen pleading with Tony before flying up and taking the missile himself.

_ "Wha- Kay, no!" _

_ "I'm sorry, dad. I can't lose you. I love you." _

Tony turned off the video, neither needed a reminder of what happened next. Another long silence stretched between them as Tony scrolled through various news reports, including live footage of Kalen's school this morning. His teachers frantically trying to keep the reporters at bay as they tried to glimpse Kalen.

"I'm not sure we can explain our way out of this one, buddy. It looks like everybody on the planet has already got a hold of this video."

"We're going to have to call a press conference, right? Just get it out there?"

Tony nodded, "I think it's the only real option." He sighed. "First, what's one thing you've always wanted to do? Might as well have some fun before we jump into the deep end."

Kalen hummed as he thought, "Oh! I know! Get a pet dog!"

"A dog?" Tony tilted his head, "That sounds like exactly the impulsive decision Pepper would talk me out of. But she's not here, so let's go."

Tony left all pretence of his disguise in the car, by now it had been shown on half of the news channels anyway, along with Kalen's face. It was safe to say the lady running the animal shelter had been shocked when they walked in, but she quickly showed them to the dog kennels.

Kalen immediately fell in love with a dalmatian puppy who now stood in his lap and licked Kalen's face as he giggled. Tony knew his heart was already set and went to fill in the paperwork with the owner. "Have you thought of a name?" He asked upon returning.

"I think we should name him after Agent Coulson."

Tony frowned, "You want to name this adorable little puppy Phil?"

"No, not Phil. What about Cole?"

Tony cracked a smile, "Yeah, I like Cole." The puppy gave an excited yip and jumped from Kalen's lap to wind himself around Tony's legs. Tony chuckled as he leant down to scratch Cole's back. "I think he likes me. The owner gave me a list of supplies and address of a good pet store to get everything at."

"What are we going to tell Auntie Pepper?" 

"I'm telling her you forced me into this against my will."

"Hey!" Kalen giggled. "Actually, that's okay. As soon as she sees Cole, she won't be able to resist him."

Tony picked up Cole and cuddled him in his arms, "Let's get his things and face the fire."

Pepper had been surprisingly okay when they returned to the mansion with Cole in tow, most likely because they were facing bigger problems. Tony set up a small scale press conference, only with reporters he knew and trusted.

Kalen watched from the private lounge, waiting for Tony to introduce him.

_ "So, a few of you might have seen the news,"  _ A series of chuckles sounded across the room.  _ "Oddly, I'm the last one to have seen it, but yes, I do have a son. He's eleven, and before you start speculating, I've been there since he was born. Me and his mother simply chose to try and keep him away from this," _ Tony gestured vaguely.  _ "Anyway, Kay,"  _ he looked directly into the camera. _ "I know you're watching back there, come out here." _

Kalen hurried out, wanting to be by Tony's side as quickly as possible. "Um, hi," he said with a wave. 

Tony chuckled, "He's not usually this shy. I know you've probably got a lot of questions about everything, but can we try and keep it civil." He pointed to someone in the front row, "Ben, you wanna start us off?"

They spent the best part of an hour answering questions about their life; what it was like at home, why they hadn't been seen since New York, how they kept the secret for so long. Kalen soon started to warm to the crowd. Tony did most of the talking, but Kalen chipped his side of the story and remarks about Tony's cooking.

But they soon moved onto the questions Tony was dreading. "Why did you let Kalen fight in New York?" It was a question Tony himself couldn't answer, the longer he thought about it, the more he felt like a failure of a father.

"He didn't," Kalen said, not giving Tony a chance to speak. "Dad kept telling me to get myself safe, but I ignore him and stayed-"

"Very stubborn, I don't know where he gets it from," Tony joked, earning a few laughs.

"He didn't even know I had a suit. I kept it secret from him."

"I don't know where he learned to keep secrets, either."

"Dad!"

"What's up, Captain? Am I embarrassing you?"

One of the reporters spoke up, "Where did the 'Captain' nickname come from?"

Kalen opened his mouth, but Tony covered it with his hand and spoke quickly. "This kid right here is  _ the _ _ biggest _ Captain America fan. You should have seen him the first time they met-"

Kalen wiggled free, "Dad shush! What if Uncle Steve is watching?"

"Uncle Steve?" Tony's eyes went wide as the reporters cooed.

"The Avengers helped keep both of us safe, they're family." Kalen was talking to Tony rather than the press, but their soft murmurs and 'aws' only grew in volume.

Tony smiled, "Alright, Captain. I think you broke them." He turned to address the reporters, wanting to leave before they could ask any more New York questions. "I think it's time to call it, we have a new puppy at home and I'm afraid he's so cute that Rhodey's going to try and steal him."

Tony steered Kalen back to the private lounge, Happy and Pepper waiting for them. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

"No," Kalen hummed, "it was actually kinda fun."

"You did a great job sweetie," Pepper smiled. 

"I am kinda worried about school, though."

Tony pulled Kalen into a one-armed hug, "You're starting middle school in a couple of months, it'll be like a fresh start. We can figure it out together."

Kalen nodded, "Can we go home, now? I want to see Cole, he's too cute to be away from."

"Of course, kiddo. Anything you want."

_ They call it the calm after the storm, but the winds had only just begun to blow. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally! The long-overdue reveal of Kalen's identity!  
> Next up is a little Iron Man 3 mixed with The Winter Soldier. Unsure as to whether the next update will be this Friday or next Friday, it entirely depends on how bad my writing is because I haven't looked back since the first draft. We'll see.


End file.
